Louisiana Trade Schools: Cost, Completion & Earnings (2026 stats)

Analysis & insights

EDsmart Data aggregates institution-level College Scorecard data for this profile. Highlights below compare local medians to U.S. and regional benchmarks.

Costs & borrowing

Median graduate debt is $9,500 (-2.0% below the U.S. median of $9,699, and -2.3% vs the Southeast regional median of $9,724). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #19 nationally of 52 (lower debt = better rank); #4 in Southeast of 12 (1 = lowest median debt).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Louisiana are $29,834, about -14.7% vs the U.S. campus median ($34,984).

The median campus reports 82.9% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 80.9% (+1.9 pp). Formal job-placement statistics are not published in Scorecard; treat this as a comparative outcome indicator, not a hire guarantee.

First-year, full-time retention at the median campus is 100.0% vs a U.S. median of 64.9%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 10.8% (U.S. 11.1%); 3-yr repayment progress 55.9% (U.S. 50.5%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Louisiana ranks earnings #49 and employment proxy #16 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Delta College of Arts & Technology (89.5%), Delta College of Arts & Technology-Lafayette Campus (89.5%), Healthcare Training Institute (88.9%), Baton Rouge General Medical Center School of Nursing & School of Radiologic Technology (88.4%), Louisiana State University-Eunice (88.3%), Southern University at Shreveport (86.7%), Baton Rouge Community College (86.5%), River Parishes Community College (85.0%), Nunez Community College (84.8%), Remington College-Lafayette Campus (84.2%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Louisiana, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $24,306 (38 campuses); Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $31,349 (5 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $32,801 (14 campuses). Public campuses often dominate enrollment while private nonprofits can show higher earnings medians at selective institutions.

Average institution-level completion rate across all sectors in Louisiana is 59.4% (national institution average about 63.3%).