College ranking

Top colleges in Michigan by 10-year ROI

College Scorecard + IPEDS Last updated: May 2026

Executive Summary

Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in Michigan with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor leads this list at $362,560 (10 Yr. ROI).

Leaders: top 3

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

10 Yr. ROI $362,560

MI · Public

Michigan Technological University

10 Yr. ROI $324,964

MI · Public

Kettering University

10 Yr. ROI $306,044

MI · Private nonprofit

Top 25 Top colleges in Michigan by 10-year ROI

Rank	Institution	State	Control	Enrollment	10 Yr. ROI	Also see
1	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	Public	34,177	$362,560	Grad 93.2% · Net $14,362
2	Michigan Technological University	MI	Public	5,955	$324,964	Grad 70.0% · Net $13,446
3	Kettering University	MI	Private nonprofit	1,205	$306,044	Grad 73.9% · Net $29,797
4	University of Detroit Mercy	MI	Private nonprofit	2,438	$293,950	Grad 73.7% · Net $13,469
5	University of Michigan-Dearborn	MI	Public	5,952	$274,938	Grad 60.5% · Net $7,863
6	Ferris State University	MI	Public	8,106	$240,086	Grad 44.1% · Net $8,402
7	Oakland University	MI	Public	12,351	$237,490	Grad 58.0% · Net $11,815
8	University of Michigan-Flint	MI	Public	4,411	$234,122	Grad 42.9% · Net $8,320
9	Michigan State University	MI	Public	40,922	$232,074	Grad 80.3% · Net $21,322
10	Wayne State University	MI	Public	15,587	$223,619	Grad 59.7% · Net $11,212
11	Cleary University	MI	Private nonprofit	738	$213,944	Grad 68.5% · Net $19,651
12	Albion College	MI	Private nonprofit	1,300	$212,078	Grad 57.1% · Net $14,673
13	Lake Superior State University	MI	Public	1,325	$206,330	Grad 49.5% · Net $9,782
14	Madonna University	MI	Private nonprofit	1,632	$205,694	Grad 53.6% · Net $14,792
15	Western Michigan University	MI	Public	12,568	$203,983	Grad 58.6% · Net $13,902
16	Saginaw Valley State University	MI	Public	5,989	$203,330	Grad 50.6% · Net $12,147
17	Grand Valley State University	MI	Public	18,854	$200,164	Grad 64.6% · Net $16,495
18	Siena Heights University	MI	Private nonprofit	1,495	$194,960	Grad 58.9% · Net $18,630
19	Lawrence Technological University	MI	Private nonprofit	1,668	$191,697	Grad 59.8% · Net $33,466
20	Northwood University	MI	Private nonprofit	1,974	$191,529	Grad 64.4% · Net $25,908
21	Central Michigan University	MI	Public	10,035	$191,430	Grad 59.1% · Net $17,201
22	Kalamazoo College	MI	Private nonprofit	1,149	$189,534	Grad 74.4% · Net $20,784
23	Davenport University	MI	Private nonprofit	3,134	$184,647	Grad 53.1% · Net $17,623
24	Calvin University	MI	Private nonprofit	3,193	$182,158	Grad 76.8% · Net $21,122
25	Eastern Michigan University	MI	Public	10,055	$175,317	Grad 45.6% · Net $16,628

Method notes

Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; 40 campuses met every filter and the top 25 are published.
Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.

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