College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Oakland University

MILarge public institution · Overall rank #147 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

A public university in Rochester Hills, Michigan, ranked #147 nationally by Azimuth.

Who it’s a good fit for

Oakland University is a public university in Rochester Hills, Michigan, where the degree mix leans toward Health Professions, Business, and Engineering. Mobility is well above average.

Graduates out-earn what predicts for students like them, and the typical graduate earns above the median at comparable schools. The model attributes more of that gain to the factors it measures than to what it cannot explain.

Pell Grant recipients finish within a few points of the rate for the entering cohort as a whole, and the lowest income band pays well below the published cost. Affordability is well above average.

The admission rate is above the median for comparable institutions, and most graduates are estimated to go into work rather than further study. The largest programs are not the highest-earning ones, so the return picture depends on the field.

Oakland University at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
87.8%
Six-year completion[2]
57.6%
Four-year earnings[3]
$68,708

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$6,711
Median student debt[4]
$22,750
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$17,858

Oakland University rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Oakland University is a public university in Rochester Hills, Michigan, enrolling 12,351 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the top tenth of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (90th percentile).

The shape is a public campus where mobility is the strongest and access the weakest, with affordability and return sitting between them. Oakland University admits 87.8% of applicants, a rate above the 78.1% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size.

Of students who start full time, 77.9% return for a second year and 57.6% finish within six years. Both figures run below the peer medians of 83.1% and 65.0%.

An estimated 38.8% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students, and the six-year rate covers only the first-time, full-time cohort. Mobility is the strongest pillar (88th percentile), while access is the weakest (76th).

Affordability sits in the mid-eighties and return in the high seventies, so the pillars are not far apart. The spread between the strongest and weakest is still more than twelve points.

Oakland University's strongest pillar is mobility, which sits in the 88th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Affordability follows closely at the 87th percentile, and the return pillar sits at the 78th percentile.

The access pillar, at the 76th percentile, is the weakest of the four, though all four land above the median for nonprofit four-year institutions.

32.0% of undergraduates at Oakland University receive Pell Grants. Azimuth ranks Oakland University #359 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients complete at a rate of 53.3%, 4.3 percentage points below the overall rate for the entering cohort as a whole. Azimuth ranks the university #182 for mobility. Graduates earn about $9,659 more than the model expects for similar students.

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

Oakland University rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#147

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 88
Access & reach
National percentile: 76
Affordability
National percentile: 87
Return on investment
National percentile: 78

Top-ranked majors

  1. Public Health#8
  2. Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other#17
  3. Human Resources Management and Services#21

This school’s three highest-ranked programs nationally. Each rank compares bachelor’s programs in the same field; field sizes differ.

Explore major rankings

01 / Oakland University briefing

Oakland University cost & financial aid[6][7]

The published cost of attendance at Oakland University is $25,182, but the average aid recipient pays far less. Grants and scholarships reduce the sticker price by an average of $16,062, leaving an average net price of $9,120.

That is $6,514 below the $15,634 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported sticker charges for the 2025-26 academic year.

In-state tuition is $15,863, on-campus food and housing is $10,932, and estimated books and supplies are $700. Out-of-state students face tuition of $23,873.

Azimuth ranks the university #187 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Oakland University publishes a cost of attendance of $25,182, and the average net price—what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships—is $9,120. For families earning under $30,000, the is $4,422; for those in the $48,001–$75,000 band, it is $6,711; and for families earning over $110,000, it is $19,217.

The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $14,795. Azimuth ranks the university #187 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Aid covers about 64% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, an offset of $16,062. The average net price across all aid recipients sits below the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size), a gap of $6,514.

Median federal student debt at completion is $22,750, with about 87.2% of federal aid recipients borrowing. That debt is above the peer median of $20,076 by $2,674, and corresponds to an estimated payment of $259 a month if repaid over ten years.

Parents who borrow through Parent PLUS carry a separate median of $17,858.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$6,711

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Oakland University

Borrowing is widespread among the university's undergraduates, and federal-loan borrowers who complete have median federal student loan debt of $22,750. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $20,076.

The university's median is $2,674 above it. For the separate parent-borrower population, median Parent PLUS borrowing is $17,858.

In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported that 52% of graduates borrowed from any source, with an average cumulative amount of $24,892 per borrower. Its figures include 50% of graduates with federal loans, averaging $21,490. They also include 8% of graduates with private loans, averaging $24,705.

Graduates of Oakland University earn about $9,659 more than the model expects for similar students, an outcome in the 82nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Four years after completion, the median earnings reach $68,708, which lands in the 74th percentile nationally.

That figure runs above the $65,610 peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $3,098. Earnings scenarios derived from the university's program mix show a downside scenario of $47,954 and an upside scenario of $91,695.

Borrowers who complete a degree carry a median federal debt of $22,750, which is above the $20,076 peer median. That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $259 a month if repaid over ten years.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $17,858. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $259.

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

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$22,750
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$17,858

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$259/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$227/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 / Oakland University briefing

Oakland University career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

Graduates of Oakland University earn about $9,659 more than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 82nd 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 $7,416.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $2,243. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,799.

Four years after completion, the median earnings for completers reach $68,708, which places the university in the 74th percentile nationally. That figure is above the peer median of $65,610 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $3,098.

Azimuth ranks the return pillar at the 78th percentile. Earnings that beat both the model's expectation and the peer median point to a solid return for graduates of this public university.

Four years after completion, the median earnings for Oakland University's completers who are working and not enrolled stand at $68,708, measured among a four-year earnings cohort of 4,492 completers. That figure is above the median of $65,610 for comparable institutions (same type and size), placing the university in the 74th percentile nationally.

Completers earn about $9,659 more than the model expects for similar students. That difference ranks in the 82nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios anchored on the university's program mix show a typical outcome that matches the observed median, with a downside scenario of $47,954 and an upside scenario reaching $91,695. An estimated 28.0% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix.

Federally aided Oakland University graduates who are working and not enrolled earn $68,708 four years after completion, a figure at the 74th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size) is $65,610, which puts the university $3,098 above.

Azimuth ranks it #318 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $9,659 more than the model expects for similar students.

That outcome sits at the 82nd percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $7,416.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $2,243. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,799.

The fields that shape the return picture are concentrated in health professions, business, and engineering, which together account for more than half of the university's bachelor's degrees. Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix range from $47,954 to $91,695.

An estimated 28.0% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

Earnings at Oakland University vary widely with the program a student chooses. The downside earnings scenario, estimated from the program mix, is $47,954 four years after completion, while the upside scenario reaches $91,695.

The highest-earning programs are in engineering. Industrial Engineering graduates earn a median of $102,222, and Electrical Engineering graduates earn $99,967.

Mechanical Engineering, a larger program at 173 degrees awarded, reports median earnings of $97,444.

Four years after completion, completers at Oakland University earn about $9,659 more than the model expects for similar students. That earnings strength coincides with a median federal student debt of $22,750 for borrowers who complete a degree.

That figure is above the median of $20,076 for comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, the estimated monthly payment on that debt is $259.

The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $9,120, which is below the peer median of $15,634. Parent PLUS borrowers, a separate population, carry a median of $17,858.

Above-expected earnings and a net price well below the peer median point the same way for Oakland University. Completers tend to earn more than the model predicts while paying less than comparable schools.

The median debt runs slightly above the peer figure, but the estimated monthly payment remains a dollar amount that sits well below the typical earnings.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$7,416
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
+$2,243
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
+$9,659

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 / Oakland University briefing

Oakland University acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

Oakland University admits 87.8% of applicants, a rate that reflects broad access rather than narrow selectivity. The median for comparable institutions (same type and size) is 78.1%.

In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 17,461 applicants and 15,358 admitted students.

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
87.8%
25th percentile
920
Median
1040
75th percentile
1160

CDS 2024-25 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Oakland University briefing

What are the largest majors at Oakland University?[12]

Oakland University's largest programs span fields with markedly different earnings four years after completion. Nursing, the most awarded field at 520 degrees, shows a median of $81,667 and an Azimuth national rank of #178.

Computer and Information Sciences reaches $90,737 with 176 degrees awarded and a national rank of #90. The highest-earning programs are concentrated in engineering.

Industrial Engineering tops the list at $102,222, though it awarded only 28 degrees. Mechanical Engineering, a larger program with 173 degrees awarded, earns a median of $97,444 and ranks #52 nationally.

By contrast, Psychology, with 198 degrees awarded, reports median earnings of $45,141, illustrating the spread between higher- and moderate-earning fields at the university.

Oakland University publishes earnings data for 40 bachelor's programs, 32 of which hold an Azimuth national rank. The largest, Nursing, awarded 520 degrees and its completers earn a median of $81,667 four years after completion.

It ranks #178 nationally and #3 in Michigan. Among the best-ranked programs, Public Health sits at #8 nationally with 25 degrees awarded and median earnings of $85,266.

Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences ranks #17 nationally, awarding 246 degrees and showing a median of $54,767. Human Resources Management and Services follows at #21, with 183 degrees awarded and median earnings of $70,347.

The highest-earning programs are led by Industrial Engineering at $102,222 and Electrical Engineering at $99,967, which ranks #77 nationally.

Health Professions accounts for 24.6% of bachelor's degrees awarded at Oakland University, with Business next at 17.5% and Engineering at 11.1%. Azimuth assigns national ranks to 32 programs within their fields, and 40 fields carry published four-year earnings.

The largest single program is Nursing, at 520 degrees awarded, followed by Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences at 246 and Psychology at 198. Public Health, the highest-ranked program, places #1 in Michigan within its field, with median earnings of $85,266 four years after completion.

Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences ranks #17 nationally within its field, awarding 246 degrees a year and earning $54,767 at the median. Public Health carries a benchmark ratio of 1.45x against the national median for its field, with median earnings of $85,266.

Human Resources Management and Services awarded 183 degrees. The highest-earning program is Industrial Engineering at $102,222, from only 28 degrees awarded.

Strength is spread across several families rather than concentrated in one. The programs that award the most degrees are in health and psychology, while the top earnings sit in smaller engineering fields.

20.9% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields, and the top national ranks are split across health, business, liberal arts, and engineering.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 520 degrees awarded
$81,667
Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other 246 degrees awarded
$54,767
Psychology, General 198 degrees awarded
$45,141
Human Resources Management and Services 183 degrees awarded
$70,347
Computer and Information Sciences, General 176 degrees awarded
$90,737
Mechanical Engineering 173 degrees awarded
$97,444

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 / Oakland University briefing

How does Oakland University serve students from different backgrounds?

Oakland University's strongest pillar is mobility. Azimuth ranks it #182 among nonprofit four-year institutions.

That places the mobility pillar in the 88th percentile. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 57.6%, while Pell recipients complete at 53.3% — below the overall rate by 4.3 percentage points.

Graduates earn about $9,659 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that sits in the 82nd percentile nationally. Strong earnings beyond expectations combined with a mobility rank inside the top two hundred point the same way: the university delivers outcomes that outpace its starting line.

Oakland University admits 87.8% of applicants, a rate above the peer median of 78.1%, and serves 12,351 undergraduates. Pell Grant recipients make up 32.0% of the undergraduate body, and an estimated 38.8% of students arrive as transfers or part-time students.

Azimuth places the access pillar in the 76th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

06 / Oakland University briefing

What colleges are similar to Oakland 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 Oakland University.

Admissions peerBaker College81.9% admitted
Comparison with Oakland University
MeasureOakland UniversityBaker College
Peer earnings · 4 years$68,708$53,754-$14,954 vs Oakland University
Average annual net price$9,120$13,157+$4,037 vs Oakland University · higher cost
Admission rate87.8%81.9%
Explore Baker College →
Higher-admission alternativeSouth Dakota State University98.3% admitted
Comparison with Oakland University
MeasureOakland UniversitySouth Dakota State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$68,708$63,042-$5,666 vs Oakland University
Average annual net price$9,120$19,841+$10,721 vs Oakland University · higher cost
Admission rate87.8%98.3%
Explore South Dakota State University →
Nearby alternativeUniversity of Michigan-FlintNearby option · MI
Comparison with Oakland University
MeasureOakland UniversityUniversity of Michigan-Flint
Peer earnings · 4 years$68,708$65,600-$3,108 vs Oakland University
Average annual net price$9,120$7,007-$2,113 vs Oakland University · lower cost
Admission rate87.8%70.5%
Explore University of Michigan-Flint →
Lower-cost alternativeUniversity of Michigan-Flint$7,007 average net price
Comparison with Oakland University
MeasureOakland UniversityUniversity of Michigan-Flint
Peer earnings · 4 years$68,708$65,600-$3,108 vs Oakland University
Average annual net price$9,120$7,007-$2,113 vs Oakland University · lower cost
Admission rate87.8%70.5%
Explore University of Michigan-Flint →
Similar profileNorthern Illinois UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with Oakland University
MeasureOakland UniversityNorthern Illinois University
Peer earnings · 4 years$68,708$64,583-$4,125 vs Oakland University
Average annual net price$9,120$13,391+$4,271 vs Oakland University · higher cost
Admission rate87.8%69.8%
Explore Northern Illinois 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