Mercyhurst University's strongest pillar is affordability; return is uneven. Azimuth puts its return pillar in the 41st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.
Graduates earn about $7,660 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, is in the 26th 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 $450. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $8,110.
Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $822. Median earnings are $57,293 four years after completion, in the 40th percentile.
The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $68,250, with Mercyhurst $10,957 below it. The model result and peer comparison both point below.
At Mercyhurst University, graduates earn about $7,660 less than the model expects for similar students. Four years after completion, federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled have median earnings of $57,293, a figure Azimuth places in the 40th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.
The earnings cohort includes 786 completers. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, is modeled rather than a direct comparison with another student group.
The earnings scenarios, based on program mix, run from a downside of $47,354 to an upside of $86,141; the typical scenario matches the observed median. An estimated 23.6% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix.
The scenario range and graduate-study estimate give context alongside the observed median.
With affordability as its strongest Azimuth pillar, Mercyhurst University has median earnings of $57,293 four years after completion for federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. That figure sits in the 40th percentile.
Comparable institutions, meaning those in the same type and size, have a peer median of $68,250; the university’s median is $10,957 below it. Graduates earn about $7,660 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, falls in the 26th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $450.
The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $8,110. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $822.
Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix run from $47,354 in the downside case to $86,141 in the upside case. Azimuth ranks the university #870 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions.
Intelligence, Command Control and Information Operations is the largest listed program, awarding 86 degrees in an academic year; its completers had median earnings of $86,597 four years after completion.
Program choice accounts for a broad modeled range, from a downside earnings scenario of $47,354 to an upside scenario of $86,141 four years after completion. These are scenarios estimated from the program mix, not observed groups.
The value question at Mercyhurst University turns on whether a moderate price for a private university offsets earnings that sit below the model's expectation. Graduates earn about $7,660 less than the model expects for similar students.
The average net price is $19,444, and aid covers about 67% of the published cost for the average aid recipient. The lowest band, for families earning under $30,000, averages $22,626, and the highest, for families earning over $110,000, averages $16,748.
The spread between the two ends is $5,878. Borrowers who finish carry a median of $25,305 in federal student loans, $1,106 above the peer median of $24,199 at comparable institutions (same type and size).
That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $288 a month if repaid over ten years. Parents who borrow hold a separate median of $25,932 in Parent PLUS loans.