Minnesota 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 $12,000 (+22.6% above the U.S. median of $9,792, and +17.1% vs the Plains regional median of $10,250). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #48 nationally of 58 (lower debt = better rank); #6 in Plains of 7 (1 = lowest median debt).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Minnesota are $45,247, about +29.0% vs the U.S. campus median ($35,086).

The median campus reports 87.9% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 81.0% (+6.9 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 71.9% 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 65.0% (U.S. 50.5%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

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

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (99.1%), Alexandria Technical & Community College (93.1%), Ridgewater College (91.4%), Minnesota State College Southeast (90.2%), Minnesota West Community and Technical College (90.0%), Inver Hills Community College (90.0%), Dakota County Technical College (90.0%), South Central College (89.8%), Rochester Community and Technical College (89.7%), St Cloud Technical and Community College (89.5%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Minnesota, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $31,330 (8 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $45,580 (28 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 Minnesota is 47.5% (national institution average about 61.5%).