College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Baldwin Wallace University

OHMedium private nonprofit institution · Overall rank #1059 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth ranks Baldwin Wallace University #1,059 among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

Baldwin Wallace University is a private nonprofit university in Berea, Ohio, where Business and Visual & Performing Arts lead the degree mix. Return is around the average.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them. The model attributes an addition to the factors it measures and a larger subtraction to what it cannot explain.

Pell recipients complete at a rate below the overall cohort, and mobility is modestly below average. Affordability is below the levels seen at many peers, with the lowest income band paying well below the published cost and the highest band paying closer to it.

The admission rate is above the median for comparable schools. Most graduates are estimated to go into work rather than further study, and a student drawn to the largest program should know that the highest-earning program is not the largest.

Baldwin Wallace University at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
75.7%
Six-year completion[2]
66.8%
Four-year earnings[3]
$59,094

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$22,994
Median student debt[4]
$27,000
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$31,484

Baldwin Wallace University rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Baldwin Wallace University is a private nonprofit university in Berea, Ohio, enrolling 2,842 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the lower third of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The four are spread across the range, from near the middle to the lower third. The university admits 75.7% of applicants, a rate above the 71.2% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size.

Of students who start full time, 83.8% return for a second year, against a peer median of 83.4%. The six-year graduation rate is 66.8%, compared to a peer median of 68.8%.

An estimated 17.8% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the six-year rate describes the first-time, full-time cohort and not the full student body. The shape is a private campus where return and access sit near the middle of the field, while mobility and affordability fall further back.

Baldwin Wallace University's strongest pillar is return, and its weakest is affordability. The pillars do not cluster tightly, so the overall picture varies considerably depending on which measure a family weighs most.

Return is the strongest part of the Baldwin Wallace University profile, though it sits near the middle of Azimuth’s comparison set. Azimuth places return in the 49th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, with access in the 48th percentile.

Mobility is in the 29th percentile, and affordability is the weakest pillar at the 17th percentile. The profile is stronger on return and access than on affordability and mobility.

29.2% of undergraduates at Baldwin Wallace University receive Pell Grants, the federal need-based grant that signals financial access. Azimuth ranks Baldwin Wallace University #766 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions, a pillar that draws on the Pell share and on how well those students complete.

Pell recipients finish at 59.4%, below the overall six-year graduation rate (66.8%) by 7.4 percentage points. The access pillar measures both the reach of federal need-based aid and the completion rate among the students who receive it.

Azimuth ranks the university #1,046 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $2,887 less than the model expects for similar students, which places the earnings side of mobility below what the model predicts for similar students.

The mobility pillar brings together the access measures and the earnings result.

How value-added outcomes are assessed · How to interpret program rankings

Baldwin Wallace University rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#1,059

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 29
Access & reach
National percentile: 48
Affordability
National percentile: 17
Return on investment
National percentile: 49

01 / Baldwin Wallace University briefing

Baldwin Wallace University cost & financial aid[6][7]

At $55,606, Baldwin Wallace University has a published sticker cost that leaves aid recipients with an average annual net price of $27,603. Published tuition and fees are $39,832, with room and board listed at $13,774.

Financial aid offsets $28,003 of the published cost on average for aid recipients. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $27,371, and the university sits above it by $232.

Azimuth ranks the university #1,167 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. A higher-than-peer net price and the affordability ranking point in the same direction.

For families receiving aid, the amount left to pay varies sharply across income bands. Baldwin Wallace University lists a published cost of attendance of $55,606.

The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $21,296 for the lowest family-income band, $20,381 for the lower-middle band, $22,994 for the middle band, $27,597 for the upper-middle band, and $31,288 for the highest band. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $9,992.

Azimuth ranks Baldwin Wallace University #1,167 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. Aid offsets a substantial part of the published price, though the remaining average cost sits above the comparable-school midpoint.

Financial aid savings average $28,003, and aid covers about 50% of the published cost for the average aid recipient. Across all aid recipients, the is $27,603, which is $232 above the peer median of $27,371 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Published tuition and fees are $39,832, and room and board are $13,774. Borrowing is common among undergraduates here, with federal debt above the comparable-school median.

Among borrowers who completed, median federal student loan debt is $27,000, and 94.8% of federal aid recipients borrow federal loans. That debt is $2,801 above the $24,199 peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $307 a month if repaid over ten years. Median Parent PLUS borrowing is $31,484.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$22,994

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Baldwin Wallace University

Federal borrowing is widespread at Baldwin Wallace University, where completing federal-loan borrowers have median federal student loan debt of $27,000. That median is $2,801 above the $24,199 peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Federal loans are used by 94.8% of federal aid recipients. For the separate parent-borrower population, median Parent PLUS borrowing is $31,484.

In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 62% of graduates borrowed from any source, with average cumulative debt of $34,974 per borrower. This included 60% of graduates with federal loans averaging $24,577. It also included 19% of graduates with private loans averaging $36,290.

Four years after completion, federally aided graduates of Baldwin Wallace University who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $59,094. That is $9,156 below the $68,250 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

That earnings level is in the 47th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $2,887 less than the model expects for similar students.

That gap is at the 44th percentile. Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, run from $41,587 on the downside to $81,346 on the upside, with $59,094 as the typical outcome.

Completers who borrowed hold a median of $27,000 in federal loans, $2,801 above the $24,199 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $307 a month.

Parent borrowers have median Parent PLUS borrowing of $31,484, a figure separate from student federal borrowing. The median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $307 a month if repaid over ten years.

How Financial GPS measures payment burden · The four risk-and-reward zones

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$27,000
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$31,484

Federal loans only; private or institutional loans aren’t included.

Estimated student payment · monthly
$307/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$400/mo

Payments use school-wide median balances, not a specific major’s.

Payment assumptions

Payments are 10-year standard payments on the median balance, before loan fees, used as a yardstick. Rates for newly issued loans may differ, and loans made after July 1, 2026 can repay over a longer term; existing loans keep their original fixed rates.

Explore your own numbers in Financial GPS
Read the full cost & aid brief

02 / Baldwin Wallace University briefing

Baldwin Wallace University career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $59,094, in the 47th percentile. That is $9,156 below the $68,250 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Graduates earn about $2,887 less than the model expects for similar students. That puts the gap at the 44th percentile.

Azimuth places the return pillar at the 49th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $4,437.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $7,324. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,401.

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates of Baldwin Wallace University who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $59,094. That figure sits at the 47th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, drawn from an earnings cohort of 1,064 completers.

Graduates earn about $2,887 less than the model expects for similar students. Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix show a typical outcome of $59,094, with a downside scenario of $41,587 and an upside scenario of $81,346.

An estimated 27.4% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

Return is the strongest Azimuth pillar at Baldwin Wallace University. Federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled have median earnings of $59,094 four years after completion, in the 47th percentile.

The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $68,250; the university sits $9,156 below it. Graduates earn about $2,887 less than the model expects for similar students.

Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, is in the 44th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks Baldwin Wallace University #748 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Downside and upside earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix are $41,587 and $81,346. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $4,437.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $7,324. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,401.

The peer comparison and the model expectation both point below their reference points. Accounting has 34 degrees awarded and median earnings of $86,955 four years after completion, or 1.14x of the national median for its field.

Nursing records 35 degrees awarded and $75,687 in median earnings at the same point. Finance has 30 degrees awarded and median earnings of $74,535, while Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft has 31 degrees awarded and median earnings of $36,251. These fields show a wide range in earnings across the programs named here.

Earnings at Baldwin Wallace University vary widely across the modeled program-mix scenarios. The downside earnings scenario is $41,587, while the upside scenario is $81,346; these are scenarios rather than observed groups of graduates.

Among programs, median earnings four years after completion are $86,955 in Accounting, $75,687 in Nursing, and $74,535 in Finance. Those program figures give the modeled range a practical meaning: field choice coincides with very different earnings levels.

Baldwin Wallace University has borrowing and price figures that sit above peer reference points. Among borrowers who completed, median federal student loan debt is $27,000.

For comparable institutions (same type and size), the peer median is $24,199, and the university’s figure is above it by $2,801. That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $307 a month if repaid over ten years.

Parent borrowers have median Parent PLUS debt of $31,484. Average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $27,603.

That is above the $27,371 peer median by $232, while aid covers about 50% of the published cost for the average aid recipient. Graduates earn about $2,887 less than the model expects for similar students. The peer comparisons and the model result point in the same direction.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$4,437
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$7,324
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$2,887

These are statistical model components, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

Read the full outcomes brief

03 / Baldwin Wallace University briefing

Baldwin Wallace University acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

Baldwin Wallace University admits a somewhat larger share of applicants than its comparable-institution benchmark. The federal admission rate is 75.7%, above the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size).

In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 4,406 first-year applicants and 3,410 admitted applicants. These counts describe a recent admissions cycle without predicting an individual decision.

The reported rate summarizes an applicant pool, rather than determining any one applicant's odds.

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
75.7%
25th percentile
1078
Median
1195
75th percentile
1263

CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Baldwin Wallace University briefing

What are the largest majors at Baldwin Wallace University?[12]

Baldwin Wallace University has a marked spread across its larger and higher-earning fields, with Accounting at the upper end. Its completers had median earnings of $86,955 four years after completion, and the field awarded 34 degrees.

Nursing recorded $75,687 and awarded 35 degrees, while Finance posted $74,535 across 30 degrees awarded. The contrast is clearest against Psychology, where median earnings were $45,686 four years after completion and 36 degrees were awarded.

The higher-earning business and health fields sit beside a more moderate-earning behavioral-science field, making the program selected an important part of how to read the university's four-year earnings figures.

Accounting has the highest earnings among Baldwin Wallace University’s largest listed fields, showing why program choice shapes the financial picture. The Business family accounts for 25.0% of bachelor’s degrees awarded.

Among the largest programs, Business Administration and Management awarded 69 degrees and had median earnings of $67,934 four years after completion; Psychology awarded 36 degrees and earned $45,686; Nursing awarded 35 degrees and earned $75,687; Accounting awarded 34 degrees and earned $86,955; and Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft awarded 31 degrees and earned $36,251, all four years after completion.

Business is the largest program family at Baldwin Wallace University, accounting for 25.0% of bachelor's degrees awarded, with Visual & Performing Arts next at 17.6% and Health Professions at 10.2%. The university has 21 programs with published four-year earnings data.

The largest single program is Business Administration and Management, at 69 degrees awarded, followed by Psychology at 36 and Nursing at 35. The highest-earning program is Accounting, where graduates earn a median of $86,955 four years after completion.

That is 1.14x the national median for its field. Nursing, the third-largest program, is next at $75,687.

Finance graduates earn $74,535 from 30 degrees awarded, and Chemistry, a smaller program at 10 degrees, reports $71,252. Across all fields, 18.5% of degrees awarded are in STEM.

The earnings pattern is concentrated: the top-earning programs are in business and health fields, and the largest program sits just below the national median for its field. The largest program in the Visual & Performing Arts family, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, awards 31 degrees a year and reports median earnings of $36,251.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Business Administration, Management and Operations 69 degrees awarded
$67,934
Psychology, General 36 degrees awarded
$45,686
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 35 degrees awarded
$75,687
Accounting and Related Services 34 degrees awarded
$86,955
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft 31 degrees awarded
$36,251
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness 30 degrees awarded
$50,415

Fields selected by reported completions. Counts describe credentials awarded, not unique students or the earnings sample. Bars show median four-year earnings.

Read the full majors brief

05 / Baldwin Wallace University briefing

How does Baldwin Wallace University serve students from different backgrounds?

At Baldwin Wallace University, Pell recipients’ six-year completion rate is 59.4%, compared with a 66.8% six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort; Pell completion is below the overall rate by 7.4 percentage points. Azimuth assigns its mobility pillar to the 29th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, is in the 44th percentile. Graduates earn about $2,887 less than the model expects for similar students.

The completion and modeled earnings measures both point to a weaker mobility picture.

Baldwin Wallace University admits 75.7% of applicants and has 2,842 undergraduates, describing the scale and entry point of its undergraduate population. Pell Grant recipients account for 29.2% of undergraduates, and an estimated 17.8% entered as transfers or part-time students.

Azimuth places the access pillar in the 48th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. These measures show access through admissions, financial-access participation, and transfer entry.

06 / Baldwin Wallace University briefing

What colleges are similar to Baldwin Wallace University?[15]

Azimuth groups alternatives by admissions, location, cost and earnings, then orders candidates within each group. Peer earnings use the matched four-year cohort. How matching works.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with Baldwin Wallace University.

Admissions peerWalsh University70.7% admitted
Comparison with Baldwin Wallace University
MeasureBaldwin Wallace UniversityWalsh University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,094$63,410+$4,316 vs Baldwin Wallace University
Average annual net price$27,603$20,493-$7,110 vs Baldwin Wallace University · lower cost
Admission rate75.7%70.7%
Higher-admission alternativeKent State University at Kent86.3% admitted
Comparison with Baldwin Wallace University
MeasureBaldwin Wallace UniversityKent State University at Kent
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,094$56,839-$2,255 vs Baldwin Wallace University
Average annual net price$27,603$20,787-$6,816 vs Baldwin Wallace University · lower cost
Admission rate75.7%86.3%
Explore Kent State University at Kent →
Nearby alternativeLake Erie CollegeNearby option · OH
Comparison with Baldwin Wallace University
MeasureBaldwin Wallace UniversityLake Erie College
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,094$57,903-$1,191 vs Baldwin Wallace University
Average annual net price$27,603$20,961-$6,642 vs Baldwin Wallace University · lower cost
Admission rate75.7%70.4%
Higher-earnings alternativeJohn Carroll University$67,580 earnings
Comparison with Baldwin Wallace University
MeasureBaldwin Wallace UniversityJohn Carroll University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,094$67,580+$8,486 vs Baldwin Wallace University
Average annual net price$27,603$28,746+$1,143 vs Baldwin Wallace University · higher cost
Admission rate75.7%80.9%
Lower-cost alternativeYoungstown State University$12,767 average net price
Comparison with Baldwin Wallace University
MeasureBaldwin Wallace UniversityYoungstown State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,094$56,047-$3,047 vs Baldwin Wallace University
Average annual net price$27,603$12,767-$14,836 vs Baldwin Wallace University · lower cost
Admission rate75.7%84.5%
Explore Youngstown State University →
Similar profileRoosevelt UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with Baldwin Wallace University
MeasureBaldwin Wallace UniversityRoosevelt University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,094$58,796-$298 vs Baldwin Wallace University
Average annual net price$27,603$20,194-$7,409 vs Baldwin Wallace University · lower cost
Admission rate75.7%97.2%
Explore Roosevelt University →

Each school is the first-ranked match in its category, not a recommendation across every measure. The same college may lead more than one category. Figures use the matching snapshot; earnings reflect the matched four-year cohort. — means unavailable.

Read the full similar schools brief

Data scope & methodology

Structured payloads generated Governed hub narrative Governed spoke corpus

Four-year earnings describe cohorts of completers. Figures for other horizons describe different cohorts and are not joined into a career-growth projection.

Azimuth's overall rank and pillar percentiles come from the school profile. Absolute pillar ranks, city, enrollment and official-site links are shown only when structured data supplies them.

Detailed earnings, cost, admissions and program values come from the endpoint responsible for each measure. Missing values are not replaced with zero. Value-added estimates are model associations, not causal effects.

Figures are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. The underlying source dates can be earlier than the release.

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

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

Read the ranking methodology, data definitions and limitations · About College Azimuth

Read the analysis behind value-added earnings and the change to four-year graduate earnings. These articles are published on collegeazimuth.com.

Data notes & source fields

Scorecard field codes identify the underlying measure; Azimuth-derived values are labeled separately. Snapshot dates are not measurement years. Source populations and reporting periods differ across measures. Field definitions are in the U.S. Department of Education · College Scorecard documentation; notes with a different source link it below.

  1. Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.

    Source fields: ADM_RATE

  2. Six-year completion. First-time, full-time students completing at the institution within 150% of normal time, typically six years for a bachelor’s degree.

    Source fields: C150_4

  3. Four-year institutional earnings. Median earnings of graduates in the reported cohort who are working and not enrolled, four years after completion.

    Source fields: MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

  4. Median federal student debt. Federal student-loan debt among completers in the reported borrowing cohort. Excludes Parent PLUS and is not total debt across all students.

    Source fields: GRAD_DEBT_MDN

  5. National, regional and state ranks; pillar percentiles; major ranks. Derived scores within the stated eligible comparison set, not raw Scorecard fields. Major ranks compare institutions within a field; their denominators differ.

    Source fields: Azimuth rankings

    College Azimuth · Ranking methodology

  6. Annual net price by family income. Average annual cost after grants and scholarships for the eligible first-time, full-time aid-recipient cohort. Public-school figures reflect in-state tuition. Includes living costs; these are averages, not medians or individual offers.

    Source fields: NPT4_PUB/PRIV; NPT41_PUB/PRIV through NPT45_PUB/PRIV

  7. Parent PLUS debt, payments and GPS illustration. Stored payments use Financial GPS loan and repayment assumptions. The adjustable spectrum applies the published framework to annual student payments divided by earnings minus an expense allowance; its initial allowance uses the frozen 2024 framework baseline. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. Parent PLUS uses the completer median where available, otherwise the all-borrower median; these describe different borrowing populations.

    Source fields: PLUS_DEBT_ALL_COMP_MD; fallback PLUS_DEBT_ALL_MD; Azimuth Financial GPS calculations

    College Azimuth · Financial GPS methodology

  8. Downside and upside earnings; yellow band. The band spans the modeled lower and higher scenarios. It is not the P25–P75 interval for individual graduates. The median marker is the separately reported institutional median.

    Source fields: Azimuth modeled program-mix scenarios

    College Azimuth · Earnings scenario methodology

  9. Value added and its components. Observed-factor attribution plus the unexplained remainder equals total modeled value added. These are associations, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

    Source fields: Azimuth statistical model

    College Azimuth · Value-added methodology

  10. SAT score range and reported midpoint. Reported scores of enrolled score-submitters, not admission cutoffs. The midpoint field is not necessarily the middle of the displayed range.

    Source fields: SATVR25 + SATMT25; SATVR75 + SATMT75; SAT_AVG

  11. First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.

    Source fields: RET_FT4

  12. Program earnings, completion counts and major-mix dots. Included bachelor’s programs have at least five reported completions. Counts are aggregated credentials, not unique people or an earnings sample. Major-mix dots group those counts by field of study; excluded programs are not zero activity.

    Source fields: EARN_MDN_4YR; IPEDSCOUNT1; CIPCODE

    College Scorecard · Field-of-study technical documentation

  13. Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.

    Source fields: PCTPELL

  14. Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group. This is not an observed transfer-in rate. It includes part-time entrants and other entering-student attendance patterns.

    Source fields: 1 − PFTFTUG1_EF

  15. Peer earnings and signed differences. Differences are peer minus this school, from the same matching snapshot. A positive earnings difference does not mean the peer is better on every measure.

    Source fields: Azimuth peer model using MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

    College Azimuth · Comparison methodology

How to interpret program rankings