Affordability is the clearer pillar: Azimuth places Bemidji State University in the 81st percentile for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. Its return pillar is in the 38th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.
Graduates earn about $7,538 less than the model expects for similar students. That earnings-beyond-expectations result is in the 27th percentile.
The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $6,255. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $13,793.
Median earnings are $60,307 four years after completion, in the 52nd percentile. That is $3,006 above the peer median of $57,301, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size).
The return picture is mixed: earnings sit above the peer median but below the model’s expectation.
Bemidji State University graduates who received federal aid and are working four years after completion earn a median of $60,307. That result is drawn from a cohort of 1,282 completers.
It sits at the 52nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. It is $3,006 above the median for comparable institutions (same type and size).
Federal aid recipients who graduate earn about $7,538 less than the model expects for similar students. Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix stretch from a downside of $46,809 to an upside of $81,062, with the typical scenario at $60,307.
An estimated 29.4% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.
Affordability is the strongest pillar at Bemidji State University, while the return figures are mixed. Federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled have median earnings of $60,307 four years after completion, placing those earnings in the 52nd percentile.
The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $57,301; the university stands $3,006 above it. Graduates earn about $7,538 less than the model expects for similar students.
That earnings-beyond-expectations result, the gap between graduate earnings and the model’s expectation for similar students, sits in the 27th percentile. Azimuth places the return pillar in the 38th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.
Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix run from $46,809 in the downside scenario to $81,062 in the upside scenario. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $6,255.
The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $13,793. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $562.
Engineering Technologies/Technicians has the highest listed median earnings: 22 degrees awarded and $90,868 four years after completion, or 1.13x of the national median for its field. Nursing recorded 127 degrees awarded and median earnings of $84,436, equal to 0.95x of its field’s national median.
Accounting awarded 56 degrees and had median earnings of $72,153, at 0.95x of the national field median. The program figures range from earnings above a field median to results below it.
Program choice matters because earnings scenarios show a wide range at Bemidji State University. The downside earnings scenario is $46,809, the typical scenario is $60,307, and the upside scenario is $81,062.
These are earnings scenarios based on the program mix, rather than observed groups. Among higher-earning fields, Engineering Technologies/Technicians has median earnings of $90,868 four years after completion, Nursing has $84,436, and Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians has $76,882.
Some of these field medians sit above the upside scenario, showing that individual field results and schoolwide scenarios answer different questions.
At Bemidji State University, median borrowing sits below comparable institutions, but the earnings model points the other way. The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $15,261; aid covers about 33% of the published cost for the average aid recipient.
Borrowers who completed have median federal student loan debt of $19,750, compared with $21,229 at comparable institutions (same type and size). That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $224 a month if repaid over ten years.
Parent PLUS borrowers, a separate parent-borrower population, have median debt of $12,173. Graduates earn about $7,538 less than the model expects for similar students. Lower borrowing and lower-than-expected earnings pull in different directions.