Adrian College Career Outcomes: $55K Median Earnings (2026)

How much do Adrian College graduates earn?

The reported median is $55,233 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $55,915 as its benchmark; the difference is -$682 per year.

At Adrian College, the return record is uneven: graduates fall short of and of comparable colleges. Graduates earn about $9,476 less than the model expects for similar students.

This earnings-beyond-expectations measure—the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students—sits in Azimuth’s 21st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth puts the return in the 33rd percentile in that coverage set.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $2,270. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $11,746.

Four years after completion, federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled have median earnings of $55,233, placing that figure in the 34th percentile. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $55,915, with Adrian College $682 below it. The model and peer comparisons point in the same direction.

Program choice leaves considerable variation around the school-wide earnings picture, from a downside scenario of $50,260 to an upside scenario of $71,432. These are earnings scenarios from the program mix, not observed groups of graduates.

Among program medians four years after completion, Accounting reaches $77,588, Business Administration and Management reaches $69,654, and Marketing reaches $66,808. Those field-level results show why the modeled range is broad.

An estimated 26.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix rather than observed enrollment. Four-year earnings cover completers who are working and not enrolled, so graduates continuing their education are outside that earnings snapshot.

Median earnings · four years after completion: $55,233
Rank for difference from expectations: 21st percentile

Four-year median earnings against two benchmarks

Adrian College reported median: $55,233
Peer schools comparable schools · $682 above Adrian College: $55,915
Model expectation what similar students would be expected to earn · $9,476 above Adrian College: $64,709

School and program earnings use pooled 2017–18 and 2018–19 completion cohorts, measured in 2022 and 2023 and expressed in 2024 dollars. How the model works.

How could earnings differ from the median?

Earnings four years after completion

Planning rangeReported median

Lower estimate: $50,260
Median · reported: $55,233
Higher estimate: $71,432

Downside shows a lower-earning scenario based on the college’s mix of programs; upside shows a higher-earning scenario. Typical is the school’s reported median four years after completion. These are planning scenarios, not a forecast of your salary or percentiles of individual graduates.

Why the downside matters explores the risk hidden by medians, using older ten-year entrant data. Read about the move to four-year earnings.

Do Adrian College graduates earn more than expected?

Azimuth models what we would expect graduates to earn based on who the college enrolls, how selective it is and its local economy. The difference between that expectation and reported earnings is what Azimuth calls value added.

Adrian College graduates’ reported earnings are $9,476 below that expectation, the 21st percentile for this measure. Unlike a peer comparison, it adjusts for who enrolls.

The breakdown separates the contribution attributed to observed factors from the remaining difference. Neither component establishes how much attending Adrian College caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at Adrian College report the highest earnings?

At Adrian College, the published figures separate higher-earning business fields from a more moderate outcome in its largest health-and-fitness program. Accounting records median earnings of $77,588 four years after completion, alongside 17 degrees awarded.

Business Administration and Management follows with $69,654 in median earnings and 27 degrees awarded. Marketing shows median earnings of $66,808 four years after completion across 24 degrees awarded.

By comparison, Kinesiology and Physical Education recorded $51,559 and 54 degrees awarded. The higher figures in the business programs sit alongside a lower reading in the largest program, so field-level earnings differ within the college.

Accounting is the highest-earning published field at Adrian College, with median earnings of $77,588 four years after completion and 17 degrees awarded. Published earnings data cover 10 fields.

Business Administration and Management follows with $69,654 in median earnings and 27 degrees awarded. Marketing had median earnings of $66,808 four years after completion, alongside 24 degrees awarded.

For Biology, the corresponding figures were $63,816 and 29 degrees awarded. Social Work recorded $54,277 in median earnings and 11 degrees awarded. The published fields show a broad spread in earnings across academic choices.

Further analysis

Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix put the downside at $50,260, the typical scenario at $55,233, and the upside at $71,432. Accounting reaches $77,588 four years after completion, while Subject-Area Teacher Education is the lowest-earning large program at $48,453. The spread shows variation by field.

Adrian College shows a mixed earnings picture across its earnings scenarios. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, provide one part of that picture.

Graduates earn about $9,476 less than the model expects for similar students. Among federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled, median earnings are $55,233 four years after completion, from an earnings cohort of 387 completers.

Azimuth puts this earnings measure in the 34th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The model's typical earnings scenario matches the reported median; its downside scenario is $50,260, and its upside scenario is $71,432.

These are modeled from the program mix rather than observed groups. An estimated 26.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix. The below-expected result sits alongside a range that varies with program mix.

Data & methodology

Sources and reporting periods: methodology.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.