Michigan 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 $9,667 (-0.3% below the U.S. median of $9,699, and +1.8% vs the Great Lakes regional median of $9,500). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #26 nationally of 52 (lower debt = better rank); #4 in Great Lakes of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Michigan are $30,060, about -14.1% vs the U.S. campus median ($34,984).

The median campus reports 83.2% 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% (+2.3 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 84.4% 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 11.6% (U.S. 11.1%); 3-yr repayment progress 47.6% (U.S. 50.5%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Michigan ranks earnings #47 and employment proxy #15 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Sacred Heart Major Seminary (90.3%), Universal Technical Institute-Canton (89.4%), Abcott Institute (88.3%), Detroit Business Institute-Downriver (88.2%), Grand Rapids Community College (86.4%), Southwestern Michigan College (86.2%), North Central Michigan College (85.9%), Bay de Noc Community College (85.9%), Gogebic Community College (85.7%), Delta College (85.6%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Michigan, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $29,392 (52 campuses); Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $37,200 (3 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $37,303 (32 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 Michigan is 61.8% (national institution average about 63.3%).