College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Franklin College

INSmall private nonprofit institution · Overall rank #1162 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth places Franklin College in the 21st percentile overall among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

Franklin College is a private nonprofit university in Franklin, Indiana, where the degree mix is led by Business and Parks, Recreation & Fitness. Mobility is the strongest , though it sits modestly below average.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them. The model attributes that gap to a remainder it does not explain, which subtracts from earnings, and to the factors it measures, which also subtract.

Within those measured factors, the STEM component adds to expected earnings. Return is modestly below average.

Affordability is below the levels seen at many peers. The net price for the lowest income band sits well below the published cost, while the highest band pays closer to it.

Pell students complete at a rate above the cohort as a whole, and access is modestly below average. The admission rate is below the median for comparable institutions, and most graduates are estimated to go into work rather than further study.

A student drawn to the largest programs should know that the best-paid ones are in Business, not Kinesiology and Physical Education.

Franklin College at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
69.8%
Six-year completion[2]
60.3%
Four-year earnings[3]
$53,224

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$20,093
Median student debt[4]
$27,000
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$40,380

Franklin College rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Franklin College is a private nonprofit university in Franklin, Indiana, enrolling 900 undergraduates. Its composite standing in the Azimuth ranking sits in the lower portion of the field among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Franklin College admits 69.8% of applicants, a rate that is below the 75.7% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size. Of students who start full time, 72.9% return for a second year and 60.3% finish within six years.

Both figures sit close to the medians for comparable institutions, which are 74.2% for retention and 54.9% for completion. An estimated 8.9% 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 mobility is the strongest of the four pillars and affordability is the weakest. Return and access sit between them.

The pillars do not cluster tightly, showing varied performance across dimensions.

Mobility is the strongest part of Franklin College’s Azimuth profile, while affordability is the weakest and makes the cost picture less favorable. Among nonprofit four-year institutions, Azimuth puts mobility in the 41st percentile, access in the 36th percentile, and return in the 29th percentile.

Affordability stands in the 24th percentile, so the leading mobility result sits alongside a weaker cost measure.

The middle 50% of submitted SAT scores fell between 1,060 and 1,240. For the ACT, the middle 50% spanned 20 to 26.

36.4% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants. Azimuth ranks Franklin College #946 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients complete at 64.0%, which is 3.7 percentage points above the rate for the entering cohort as a whole. Azimuth ranks the university #873 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $14,172 less than the model expects for similar students.

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

Franklin College rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#1,162

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 41
Access & reach
National percentile: 36
Affordability
National percentile: 24
Return on investment
National percentile: 29

01 / Franklin College briefing

Franklin College cost & financial aid[6][7]

Franklin College carries a published annual cost of $54,178, though aid substantially changes the amount paid by recipients. Tuition and fees are $38,710, and room and board are $12,405.

For aid recipients, average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $22,855, with $31,323 in average aid savings against the published cost. That average is $508 above the $22,347 peer median at comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth places the affordability pillar in the 24th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The aid reduction is large, but the resulting average price remains slightly above the comparable-school median.

Family income makes a clear difference in what aid recipients pay at Franklin College. The published cost of attendance is $54,178.

Average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $14,790 for the lowest-income family band, $15,822 for the lower-middle band, $20,093 for the middle band, $23,439 for the upper-middle band, and $30,316 for the highest-income band. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $15,526, a difference between band averages rather than a family bill.

Azimuth ranks the university #1,070 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. Aid reduces the listed price for the average recipient, though the resulting average price sits slightly higher than at similar colleges.

Aid covers about 58% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, or average savings of $31,323 against the sticker price. Across all aid recipients, the is $22,855, $508 above the peer median of $22,347 at comparable institutions (same type and size).

Published tuition and fees are $38,710, and room and board are $12,405. Average aid is substantial, but the overall aid-recipient price remains above the comparable-institution median.

Borrowing is common among undergraduates here, and federal debt at completion is above the comparable-college median. Federal student loan borrowers who complete have median debt of $27,000, while 92.7% of federal aid recipients borrow federal loans.

That median is $2,000 above the peer median of $25,000 at comparable institutions (same type and size). Median Parent PLUS borrowing for parent borrowers is $40,380.

The median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $307 a month if repaid over ten years.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$20,093

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Franklin College

Borrowing is common at Franklin College, where 92.7% of federal aid recipients take federal loans and borrowers who complete carry median federal student loan debt of $27,000. These federal figures describe borrowers who completed rather than every undergraduate, and they exclude Parent PLUS and private loans.

The median is $2,000 above the $25,000 peer median at comparable institutions (same type and size). For the separate population of parent borrowers, median Parent PLUS borrowing is $40,380.

The investment picture at Franklin College is shaped by earnings that fall short of the model's expectation and borrowing that runs above the peer median. Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $53,224.

That figure sits at the 27th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $14,172 less than the model expects for similar students, an outcome in the 10th percentile.

Earnings scenarios, estimated from the university's program mix, range from $48,242 in a downside case to $80,140 in an upside case, with $53,224 as the typical outcome. The median federal student debt at completion is $27,000, which is $2,000 above the $25,000 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $307 a month if repaid over ten years. The return picture is mixed: earnings beat neither the model's expectation nor the peer median, while the debt load sits above the peer median.

Among parent borrowers, median Parent PLUS borrowing is $40,380, separate from student federal loans. For completers with median federal student debt, that 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
$40,380

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$307/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$513/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 / Franklin College briefing

Franklin College 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 $53,224. That is at the 27th percentile nationally, and $2,691 below the $55,915 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth places the university at the 29th percentile for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $14,172 less than the model expects for similar students.

That places the gap at the 10th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) subtracts $2,442.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $11,730. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $2,641.

Franklin College graduates have median earnings of $53,224 four years after completion, a starting point rather than a guarantee for any individual. Azimuth places that earnings measure in the 27th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, based on an earnings cohort of 299 completers.

That cohort covers federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled, so it does not describe every alumnus. The program mix supplies a typical earnings scenario of $53,224, rather than a result from an observed group.

An estimated 34.4% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix rather than observed enrollment. The earnings standing and graduate-study estimate describe different parts of the post-college picture.

Franklin College's strongest Azimuth pillar is mobility, though its return figures sit below both peer and model comparisons. Median earnings are $53,224 four years after completion, placing the school in the 27th percentile on that measure.

At comparable institutions (same type and size), the peer median, the middle value for that group, is $55,915; Franklin College is $2,691 below it. Graduates earn about $14,172 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, are in the 10th percentile. Azimuth places the return pillar in the 29th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix range from $48,242 on the downside to $80,140 on the upside. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) subtracts $2,442.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $11,730. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $2,641.

Finance has the highest listed median, with 6 degrees awarded and earnings of $84,829 four years after completion; its benchmark stands at 1.02x times the national median for its field. Business/Commerce awarded 9 degrees and had median earnings of $84,491, or 1.24x times the national median for its field.

Business Administration and Management recorded 17 degrees awarded and median earnings of $77,821, with a benchmark of 1.14x times its field's national median. The largest listed field, Kinesiology and Physical Education, awarded 21 degrees and had median earnings of $54,636 four years after completion.

The program figures show higher medians in several business fields alongside a lower median in the largest listed field.

At Franklin College, earnings scenarios show a wide range across the program mix. The downside earnings scenario is $48,242, and the upside scenario is $80,140; both are scenarios rather than observed graduate groups.

Program medians four years after completion reach $84,829 in Finance, $84,491 in Business/Commerce, and $77,821 in Business Administration and Management. Those program results help explain the breadth of the modeled range.

Costs, borrowing, and the model comparison all warrant attention at Franklin College. Average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $22,855.

The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $22,347; Franklin College is above it by $508. Across the five family-income bands, average net prices are $14,790, $15,822, $20,093, $23,439, and $30,316, from lowest to highest income.

Among borrowers who completed, median federal student loan debt is $27,000, compared with a peer median of $25,000; debt is above it by $2,000. That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $307 a month if repaid over ten years.

Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, provide another comparison. Graduates earn about $14,172 less than the model expects for similar students. Costs, debt, and the model comparison point in the same direction.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
-$2,442
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$11,730
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$14,172

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 / Franklin College briefing

Franklin College acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

Franklin College admitted 69.8% of applicants in the reported entering class, a rate below the median of 75.7% for comparable institutions (same type and size). That comparison describes how the reported admission outcome differs from similar institutions, not a prediction for an individual applicant.

SAT: approximate enrolled-student range
Admission rate
69.8%
Approximate lower endpoint
1060
Reported average
1145
Approximate upper endpoint
1240

Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Franklin College briefing

What are the largest majors at Franklin College?[12]

At Franklin College, business-related fields occupy the higher end of program earnings, while a larger health-related field sits at a more moderate level. Finance recorded median earnings of $84,829 four years after completion, with 6 degrees awarded.

Business/Commerce was close behind at $84,491 and 9 degrees awarded. Business Administration and Management had median earnings of $77,821 four years after completion across 17 degrees awarded.

At the more moderate end of these fields, Kinesiology and Physical Education recorded $54,636 with 21 degrees awarded. The contrast shows that reported earnings vary substantially by field, including among programs with relatively similar numbers of degrees awarded.

Published program earnings show that business-related fields have the highest figures among the highlighted offerings at Franklin College. The available figures vary across these fields, making program-level outcomes more informative than a single institution-wide earnings figure.

The bachelor's degree mix at Franklin College is led by Business, which accounts for 23.3% of degrees awarded, followed by Parks, Recreation & Fitness at 12.9% and Communication & Journalism at 11.0%. The university has 8 programs with published four-year earnings data.

The largest single program is Kinesiology and Physical Education, at 21 degrees awarded, with Business Administration and Management next at 17 and Psychology at 16. The highest-earning program is Finance, where graduates earn a median of $84,829 four years after completion, from 6 degrees awarded.

Business/Commerce, the fifth-largest program, is close behind at $84,491 with 9 degrees awarded, and its earnings sit at a benchmark ratio of 1.24x against the national median for its field. Business Administration and Management, the second-largest program, reports median earnings of $77,821.

The pattern here is one of concentration: the largest programs are not the best-paid ones, and the programs with the strongest earnings are small. Kinesiology and Physical Education, the largest program, reports median earnings of $54,636, while the smaller Finance and Business/Commerce programs both clear the highest earnings in the block. Across all fields, 26.0% of degrees awarded are in STEM.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness 21 degrees awarded
$54,636
Business Administration, Management and Operations 17 degrees awarded
$77,821
Psychology, General 16 degrees awarded
$49,687
Biology, General 14 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report
History 12 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication 11 degrees awarded
$54,298

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 / Franklin College briefing

How does Franklin College serve students from different backgrounds?

Mobility is Franklin College’s strongest pillar, although completion and modeled earnings do not point in the same direction. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 60.3%; for Pell recipients, the six-year completion rate is 64.0%, above the overall rate by 3.7 percentage points.

Azimuth places mobility in the 41st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, sit in the 10th percentile.

Graduates earn about $14,172 less than the model expects for similar students. The completion figures sit alongside below-expected modeled earnings.

Admission is relatively open at Franklin College, which admitted 69.8% of applicants and enrolls 900 undergraduates. Pell Grant recipients make up 36.4% of undergraduates, with an estimated 8.9% arriving as transfers or part-time students.

Azimuth assigns the access pillar to the 36th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. These measures describe both the size of the undergraduate population and the main entry routes into it.

06 / Franklin College briefing

What colleges are similar to Franklin College?[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 Franklin College.

Admissions peerTaylor University73.5% admitted
Comparison with Franklin College
MeasureFranklin CollegeTaylor University
Peer earnings · 4 years$53,224$51,779-$1,445 vs Franklin College
Average annual net price$22,855$24,865+$2,010 vs Franklin College · higher cost
Admission rate69.8%73.5%
Explore Taylor University →
Higher-admission alternativeIndiana University-Southeast84.5% admitted
Comparison with Franklin College
MeasureFranklin CollegeIndiana University-Southeast
Peer earnings · 4 years$53,224$54,129+$905 vs Franklin College
Average annual net price$22,855$7,888-$14,967 vs Franklin College · lower cost
Admission rate69.8%84.5%
Explore Indiana University-Southeast →
Nearby alternativeAnderson UniversityNearby option · IN
Comparison with Franklin College
MeasureFranklin CollegeAnderson University
Peer earnings · 4 years$53,224$54,833+$1,609 vs Franklin College
Average annual net price$22,855$25,021+$2,166 vs Franklin College · higher cost
Admission rate69.8%79.3%
Explore Anderson University →
Higher-earnings alternativeKettering College$80,027 earnings
Comparison with Franklin College
MeasureFranklin CollegeKettering College
Peer earnings · 4 years$53,224$80,027+$26,803 vs Franklin College
Average annual net price$22,855$21,650-$1,205 vs Franklin College · lower cost
Admission rate69.8%76.5%
Lower-cost alternativeIndiana University-Southeast$7,888 average net price
Comparison with Franklin College
MeasureFranklin CollegeIndiana University-Southeast
Peer earnings · 4 years$53,224$54,129+$905 vs Franklin College
Average annual net price$22,855$7,888-$14,967 vs Franklin College · lower cost
Admission rate69.8%84.5%
Explore Indiana University-Southeast →
Similar profileThe University of OlivetMatched across several measures
Comparison with Franklin College
MeasureFranklin CollegeThe University of Olivet
Peer earnings · 4 years$53,224$52,261-$963 vs Franklin College
Average annual net price$22,855$21,393-$1,462 vs Franklin College · lower cost
Admission rate69.8%83.3%
Explore The University of Olivet →

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