Montana 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 $11,500 (+17.4% above the U.S. median of $9,792, and +21.1% vs the Rocky Mountains 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: #47 nationally of 58 (lower debt = better rank); #5 in Rocky Mountains of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Montana are $31,626, about -9.9% vs the U.S. campus median ($35,086).

The median campus reports 79.2% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 81.0% (-1.8 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 82.3% 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 70.5% (U.S. 50.5%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Montana ranks earnings #42 and employment proxy #39 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Miles Community College (89.4%), Dawson Community College (89.1%), Montana Academy of Salons (88.5%), Highlands College of Montana Tech (87.6%), Helena College University of Montana (85.2%), Great Falls College Montana State University (83.9%), Flathead Valley Community College (82.6%), Crevier's Academy of Cosmetology Arts (75.8%), Salish Kootenai College (75.3%), Chief Dull Knife College (73.5%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Montana, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $21,444 (3 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $35,380 (12 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 Montana is 44.7% (national institution average about 61.5%).