A parent's read

  • The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 4× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full ~$41,038/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$59,058/yr) still runs about 4× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything.
  • Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.

Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.

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Odds at Madonna University

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Most families report the weighted one — it's the higher number, with honors and AP credit in it.

This reads the numbers — admit rate, scores, GPA. The real decision also weighs essays, recommendations, activities, and course rigor.

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Live odds from each college's own published admissions data.

Parent/student verdict

Accessible

Accessible for most applicants. Heavy discounting — among aid recipients average ~$17,755/yr net; strong students should also check the merit grid.

Best for

  • Students focused on Health Professions (the school's signature program)
  • Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience

The reality

  • You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 890 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)

Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.

What are your child's odds here?

Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.

Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.

Institutional snapshot

What kind of college is this?

Carnegie classification
M2: Master's - Medium Programs
Undergraduates
1,632
1,000 - 4,999 including graduate students
TuitionThe published full price before any aid. Families who don't qualify for need-based aid at a given college pay this, minus any merit scholarships — whether you qualify depends on the college's price and policies, not on any fixed income line.
$28,440
flat rate (no in/out-of-state split) · 2023–24 federal figure
Admit rateThe share of applicants a college accepts. Useful context, but your student's odds depend on their own grades and scores, not the average.
92.9%
Accepts the majority
SAT middle 50%The middle half of the enrolled first-years who sent this test scored in this range — a quarter of them scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. At a test-optional college the students who submitted are often a minority of the class, so the range describes them rather than everyone who enrolled. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
890–1120
EBRW + Math composite
Test policyApplicants choose whether to send SAT/ACT scores. At many such colleges, students who submit strong scores are still admitted at higher rates.
Test-optional
2023
10-yr earningsMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$59,058
median, after entry

31% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score — this range describes students who submitted, not the whole class.

Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.

Outcomes & cost

What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.

Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).

Earnings, 6 yrs after entry
$49,871
Earnings, 10 yrs after entryMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$59,058
Graduate within 6 yrsThe share of students who start here and finish a bachelor's within six years — the standard federal measure, and the one College Scorecard publishes. It is not a four-year rate. Read it as the odds of finishing at all: nationally about a third of students who start never do, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision.
60%
Median debt (completers)The federal-loan balance of the typical graduating borrower. Families who pay cash aren't counted, so read it as "among those who borrowed."
$23,000

The real cost

What Madonna University actually costs

If you qualify for need aidGrant money based on your family's finances (via FAFSA and the college's own forms), not your student's stats.
$17,755/yr
average among aid-receiving families, all incomes — your number depends on your finances
If you don't
$41,038/yr
the full published price

Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Madonna University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.

Get your family's number — Madonna University's Net Price Calculator ↗ 10–15 minutes; have a tax return handy. It's still an estimate — but it's this college's own, built from your family's numbers, not anyone's average.
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Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.

The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways

+$426K ahead at full price +$520K with aid
Full price, no aidThe all-in yearly price — tuition, housing, food, books, fees — before any aid. This is the real "full price," not just the tuition line. (4 yrs)
$164,152
~$41,038/yr all-in
Aid recipients pay (4 yrs)
$71,020
$17,755/yr average
10-yr earnings total
$590,580
$59,058/yr median, 10 yrs out
Years to recoup the cost
2.8 yrs
at full price (1.2 with aid), at the median earnings rate

Source: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.

What students study here

Most popular majors at Madonna University

Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Madonna University actually graduates — not just what it markets.

1. Health Professions
240 degrees · 58.7%
Highest-paying group on this list, but most careers require additional training beyond a 4-year degree.
2. Business, Management, & Marketing
75 degrees · 18.3%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
3. Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, & Firefighting
53 degrees · 13.0%
Public-sector careers in law enforcement, corrections, security. Strong pensions, modest base.
4. Visual & Performing Arts
21 degrees · 5.1%
Highly variable. Steady-pay roles cluster in design, illustration, production. Performance careers have very wide income distributions.
5. Biological & Biomedical Sciences
20 degrees · 4.9%
Many bio majors → med school / grad school. Direct-employment bio roles are lower-paid than that pipeline.

What those majors earn here

Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Madonna University's own graduates, not national averages.

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. Bachelor's Degree 256 $73,608 $79,682
Health/Medical Preparatory Programs. Bachelor's Degree $69,333
Business Administration, Management and Operations. Bachelor's Degree 52 $35,691 $64,515
Biology, General. Bachelor's Degree 14 $46,127 $63,032
Social Work. Bachelor's Degree 15 $58,037
Legal Support Services. Bachelor's Degree 6 $56,416
Criminal Justice and Corrections. Bachelor's Degree 52 $36,296 $50,913
American Sign Language. Bachelor's Degree 9 $30,013 $50,382
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services. Bachelor's Degree 3 $45,795

Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →

Student body & economic mobility

Who attends here — and what the campus adds.

Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.

Top-1% access
0.6%
from top-1% households
Mobility rateThe share of ALL students who arrived from the bottom 20% of family incomes AND reached the top 20% themselves by their early 30s — access and lift in one number, and a sign the campus itself adds earnings power.
1.6%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
24.8%
of lower-income students who reach the top 20%
Pell recipientsStudents receiving federal Pell grants, which go to lower- and middle-income families — the standard shorthand for a college's economic mix.
30%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

AI program signal

AI + computing education at Madonna University

CS degrees (annual)
3
CIP 11.0701 + 11.0101

Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →

Alternatives to Madonna University

Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.

Better merit-aid options
These similar-selectivity schools publish merit scholarships your family can plan around — your kid’s stats could unlock real scholarship dollars.
Texas Tech University
TX · Public
30 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
University of Mississippi
MS · Public
14 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
University of Louisville
KY · Public
13 stats-based + 6 competitive scholarships
Lower full price
Similar selectivity, but a meaningfully lower full sticker price — the comparison that matters most for families who won't qualify for much need-based aid.
Indiana University-Kokomo
IN · Public
$11,837/yr full price (in-state) · $29,201 less before aid for IN residents
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
GA · Public
$13,956/yr full price (in-state) · $27,082 less before aid for GA residents
Indiana University-Northwest
IN · Public
$13,989/yr full price (in-state) · $27,049 less before aid for IN residents
More students move up here
Per Opportunity Insights, a larger share of these campuses' lower-income students reach the top earnings quintile than at Madonna University. That reflects who they admit as well as what they do, so read it as a destination signal rather than proof of value added.
CUNY Lehman College
NY · Public
10.2% mobility rate (vs 1.6% here)
CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice
NY · Public
9.7% mobility rate (vs 1.6% here)
CUNY New York City College of Technology
NY · Public
8.3% mobility rate (vs 1.6% here)

Or compare any college side-by-side

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At a glance

JSON · Using this page with an AI assistant

Madonna University is a private nonprofit four-year college in MI. It admitted 93% of applicants (1,655 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.

Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 890–1120. 31% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score — this range describes students who submitted, not the whole class.

Cost: about $17,755 a year on average with aid, $41,038 a year at full price.

Median earnings ten years after entry: $59,058 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $519,560 ahead with aid, $426,428 ahead at full price.

Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing ($79,682); Health/Medical Preparatory Programs ($69,333); Business Administration, Management and Operations ($64,515).

Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 7% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 25% of those reached the top fifth as adults.

Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/madonna-university.json

By major: BiologyBusiness AdministrationChild DevelopmentCriminal Justice and CriminologyNursing (BSN)Social Work
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