FILE - Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor is shown during a Sept. 5, 2009 game between the University of Michigan and Western Michigan.
Gregory Shamus/Getty ImagesAs the first "early decision" college-application deadline is looming on Nov. 1, the personal-finance website WalletHub ranked the best colleges in Michigan for the upcoming year.
On average, tuition and room and board at a four-year college costs around $27,000 to $55,000 per year. It varies depending on the school’s public or private status and whether it’s in-state. For those prices, students want to know they are getting a good deal, according to WalletHub.
So, let's see what Michigan Colleges come out on top, and which fall flat.
The top 10 colleges and universities in Michigan according to WalletHub's metrics are:
- University of Michigan Ann-Arbor
- Michigan Technological University
- Kalamazoo College
- Calvin University
- University of Detroit Mercy
- University of Michigan-Dearborn
- Albion College
- Kettering University
- Michigan State University
- Andrews University
With that in mind, here’s a closer look at some of the top schools and how each performed in certain metrics:
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (1 = Best; 16 = Average; 32 = Worst):
- 1st – Admission Rate
- 30th – Net Cost
- 4th – Student-Faculty Ratio
- 25th – On-Campus Crime
- 4th – Gender & Racial Diversity
- 1st – Graduation Rate
- 3rd – Post-Attendance Median Salary
Michigan Technological University (1 = Best; 16 = Average; 32 = Worst):
- 13th – Admission Rate
- 10th – Net Cost
- 12th – Student-Faculty Ratio
- 8th – On-Campus Crime
- 32nd – Gender & Racial Diversity
- 7th – Graduation Rate
- 2nd – Post-Attendance Median Salary
Kalamazoo College (1 = Best; 16 = Average; 32 = Worst):
- 16th – Admission Rate
- 28th – Net Cost
- 15th – Student-Faculty Ratio
- 31st – On-Campus Crime
- 2nd – Gender & Racial Diversity
- 3rd – Graduation Rate
- 6th – Post-Attendance Median Salary
To view the full reports, please visit here.
Wallethub compared 1,015 colleges and universities across seven key dimensions, including 30 metrics. Those dimensions were "Student Selectivity" which included admission rate, "Cost and Financing" which included metrics like net cost and availability of employment services for students, "Faculty Resources" which inlcuded the student to faculty ratio, "Campus Safety" which included on-campus arrests, "Campus Experience" which included metrics like share of international students and share of students living on-campus, "Educational Outcomes" which included retention rate and "Career Outcomes" which included return on educational investment.
Each college or university was ranked on a 100-point scale, 25 of which went to the Student Selectivity dimension and 20 of which went Cost and Financing, 20 of which went to Educational Outcomes, 15 of which went to Career Outcomes, 10 of which went to Faculty resources, and 5 of which went to both Campus Safety and Campus Experience.
Data used to create this ranking were collected from National Center for Education Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, U.S. Department of Education, COLLEGEdata and PayScale.
