West Virginia 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 (-3.0% below the U.S. median of $9,792, and -2.0% vs the Southeast regional median of $9,696). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #23 nationally of 58 (lower debt = better rank); #5 in Southeast of 12 (1 = lowest median debt).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in West Virginia are $33,134, about -5.6% vs the U.S. campus median ($35,086).

The median campus reports 79.4% 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% (-1.6 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 53.8% 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 13.4% (U.S. 11.1%); 3-yr repayment progress 43.8% (U.S. 50.5%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, West Virginia ranks earnings #36 and employment proxy #36 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include West Virginia University Hospital Departments of Rad Tech and Nutrition (94.1%), Potomac State College of West Virginia University (87.2%), James Rumsey Technical Institute (86.8%), Ross Medical Education Center-Charleston (84.8%), BridgeValley Community & Technical College (81.1%), Blue Ridge Community and Technical College (80.9%), Cabell County Career Technology Center (80.7%), Valley College-Beckley (80.5%), Academy of Careers and Technology (80.3%), Mercer County Technical Education Center (80.2%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within West Virginia, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $23,512 (4 campuses); Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $24,900 (3 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $33,975 (18 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 West Virginia is 75.0% (national institution average about 61.5%).