College profile
Northern Michigan University
MI · Public · Remote town · 6,922 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Construction Management grads from here earn about $91,682 four years out; fine and studio arts grads about $36,228 — a 2.5× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 4× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$27,841/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$47,107/yr) still runs about 4× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
- 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.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants. Affordable — net price averages ~$14,085/yr among aid recipients. Major value play for in-state residents.
Best for
- In-state residents (tuition ~$14,277 — major value play)
- Students drawn to Business, Management, & Marketing or Health Professions (the two biggest majors)
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?
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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?
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).
The real cost
What Northern Michigan University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Northern Michigan University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
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
+$360K ahead at full price +$415K with aidSource: 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, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Northern Michigan University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Northern Michigan University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Northern Michigan University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Construction Management. | $91,682 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $90,337 |
| Construction Engineering Technology/Technician. | $88,881 |
| Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians. | $82,326 |
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. | $77,670 |
| Marketing. | $68,157 |
| Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions. | $67,522 |
| Finance and Financial Management Services. | $63,730 |
| Accounting and Related Services. | $62,901 |
| Criminal Justice and Corrections. | $59,390 |
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.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at Northern Michigan University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Northern Michigan University
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantNorthern Michigan University is a public four-year college in MI. It admitted 70% of applicants (6,922 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Cost: about $14,085 a year on average with aid, $27,841 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $47,107 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $414,730 ahead with aid, $359,706 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Construction Management ($91,682); Computer and Information Sciences, General ($90,337); Construction Engineering Technology/Technician ($88,881).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 7% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 19% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/northern-michigan-university.json