Massachusetts 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 $8,796 (-7.4% below the U.S. median of $9,500, and -3.9% vs the New England regional median of $9,148). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #13 nationally of 58 (lower debt = better rank); #3 in New England of 6 (1 = lowest median debt).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Massachusetts are $49,727, about +24.6% vs the U.S. campus median ($39,899).

The median campus reports 87.1% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 85.5% (+1.6 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 60.0% vs a U.S. median of 65.2%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 11.2% (U.S. 11.1%); 3-yr repayment progress 63.5% (U.S. 50.5%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Massachusetts ranks earnings #1 and employment proxy #17 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital School of Nursing (95.9%), Greater Lowell Technical School (93.8%), Southeastern Technical Institute (92.7%), National Aviation Academy of New England (91.4%), Northern Essex Community College (89.6%), Quincy College (89.5%), Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology (89.1%), Massasoit Community College (89.1%), Middlesex Community College (88.8%), Quinsigamond Community College (88.6%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Massachusetts, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $34,472 (14 campuses); Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $66,078 (4 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $50,958 (20 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 Massachusetts is 70.2% (national institution average about 66.8%).