College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Rowan University

NJLarge public institution · Overall rank #208 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth ranks Rowan University #208 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

Rowan University is a public university in Glassboro, New Jersey, where the degree mix is led by Business, Psychology, and Biological Sciences. Mobility is among the highest we track.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them, and the typical graduate earns below the median at comparable schools. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures adds to expected earnings, while the part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts from them.

The shortfall is in what the model cannot account for. Pell Grant recipients finish at nearly the same rate as the entering cohort as a whole, and access is well above average.

The lowest income band pays well below the published cost, while the highest band pays closer to it. The admission rate is near the median for comparable schools, 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 much smaller.

Rowan University at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
77.7%
Six-year completion[2]
67.4%
Four-year earnings[3]
$62,686

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$19,245
Median student debt[4]
$20,500
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$27,445

Rowan University rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Rowan University is a public university in Glassboro, New Jersey, enrolling 15,841 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the top sixth of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (86th percentile).

The university admits 77.7% of applicants, a rate that mirrors the 78.1% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size. Of students who start full time, 82.3% return for a second year, just below the 83.1% median among comparable institutions.

The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 67.4%, which exceeds the 65.0% median among comparable institutions. An estimated 35.2% of the student body arrives as transfers or part-time students.

Mobility is the strongest at Rowan University, while return is the weakest, and the two sit far apart. Access is nearly as high, while affordability is near the middle of the field.

A family weighing mobility will see a very different institution than one weighing return.

Azimuth ranks Rowan University #208 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions, with a profile shaped by its strongest pillar, mobility, and its weakest, return. The mobility pillar sits in the 94th percentile, reflecting the scale at which graduates reach earnings that outpace their pre-college economic circumstances.

Access follows in the 84th percentile, affordability in the 51st percentile, and return in the 37th percentile. The spread between the top and bottom pillars is wide: strong economic-mobility outcomes coexist with earnings that fall below the model's expectation for similar students.

At Rowan University, 33.1% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, the measure of financial access here. With that Pell share, Azimuth ranks the university #229 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients complete at 67.3%, 0.1 percentage points below the rate for the entering cohort as a whole (67.4%). Azimuth ranks the university #93 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $6,937 less than the model expects for similar students, a result that coincides with the university's mobility standing.

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

Rowan University rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#208

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 94
Access & reach
National percentile: 84
Affordability
National percentile: 51
Return on investment
National percentile: 37

Top-ranked majors

  1. English Language and Literature/Letters, Other#2
  2. Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technicians#3
  3. Computer Programming#6

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 / Rowan University briefing

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

For New Jersey residents, Rowan University lists in-state tuition and fees at $16,574, while out-of-state tuition and fees are $26,932. Room and board adds another $16,928, bringing the full published cost of attendance to $35,842.

After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients is $22,408, $13,434 less than the sticker total. Aid covers about 37% of the published cost for the average aid recipient.

That , what aid recipients actually pay after grants and scholarships, sits above the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $6,774. The out-of-pocket cost runs higher than at peer institutions even after the aid discount.

That affordability profile places Rowan University in the 51st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Rowan University publishes a cost of attendance of $35,842, with in-state tuition and fees at $16,574 and room and board at $16,928. After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients from families earning under $30,000 is $15,305, rising to $19,245 for the $48,001–$75,000 band and $30,378 for families earning over $110,000.

The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $15,073, a difference of averages across income groups. Azimuth ranks the university #691 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Aid covers about 37% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, an offset of $13,434 against the sticker price. The average net price across all aid recipients is $22,408, which sits above the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $6,774.

Out-of-state students face a higher published tuition of $26,932, though individual aid packages can shift the final cost. Among federal-loan borrowers who completed, the median federal student debt is $20,500.

That median is above the peer median of $20,076 for comparable institutions. About 90.0% of federal aid recipients borrow federal loans.

For parents, the median Parent PLUS borrowing is $27,445. If repaid over ten years, the median federal debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $233 a month.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$19,245

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Rowan University

Completers at Rowan University finish with a median federal student debt of $20,500, which is above the median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Parents who borrow through the Parent PLUS program, a separate borrower population from student borrowers, have a median loan of $27,445.

Rowan University's return picture is mixed. Graduates earn a median of $62,686 four years after completion, which sits in the 59th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

They earn about $6,937 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 29th percentile. Earnings scenarios from the university's program mix show a typical earnings level at the same amount, with a downside scenario of $49,981 and an upside scenario of $83,948.

The median federal student debt at completion is $20,500, which is above the median for comparable institutions (same type and size). That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $233 a month if repaid over ten years.

Earnings that fall below the model's expectation and sit below the median for comparable institutions point in the same direction, while the debt load is in line with peers.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $27,445. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $233.

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

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$20,500
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$27,445

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$233/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$349/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 / Rowan University briefing

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

Rowan University's strongest pillar is mobility, not return. Azimuth places the return pillar in the 37th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Four years after completion, graduates earn about $6,937 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 29th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $7,448.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $14,385. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $2,227.

The median earnings four years after completing a degree at the university are $62,686, which sits in the 59th percentile nationally. That figure is below the peer median of $65,610—the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size)—by $2,924.

The return picture is mixed: earnings fall short of both the model's expectation and the peer median.

Rowan University graduates earn a median of $62,686 four years after completion, based on a cohort of 4,612 federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. That is $2,924 below the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Graduates earn about $6,937 less than the model expects for similar students. Earnings beyond expectations measure the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, and that gap sits at the 29th percentile.

Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix show a typical figure of $62,686, with a downside scenario of $49,981 and an upside scenario of $83,948. An estimated 29.5% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates of Rowan University who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $62,686, at the 59th percentile. That median is $2,924 below the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Graduates earn about $6,937 less than the model expects for similar students, placing that gap at the 29th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks the university #926 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix show a typical outcome matching the observed median, with a downside of $49,981 and an upside of $83,948. An estimated 29.5% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $7,448. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $14,385.

Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $2,227. The program mix includes engineering and nursing fields alongside larger programs in psychology and business.

Earnings at Rowan University vary sharply by field, with earnings scenarios four years after completion running from $49,981 on the downside to $83,948 on the upside and a typical outcome of $62,686. At the upper end, Electrical Engineering completers earn $104,215, Nursing graduates earn $97,116, and Chemical Engineering completers earn $95,769 four years after completion.

Those program medians exceed the upside scenario, which shows how wide the earnings range is across fields.

The median federal student debt for borrowers who complete a degree at Rowan University is $20,500, which is above the median for comparable institutions (same type and size). That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $233 a month if repaid over ten years.

The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $22,408, which runs above the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size). Parent PLUS borrowers, a separate population, carry a median of $27,445.

Graduates earn about $6,937 less than the model expects for similar students. The return picture is mixed: the median debt is close to peers, but the average net price sits above the peer median and earnings fall short of the model's expectation.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$7,448
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$14,385
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$6,937

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 / Rowan University briefing

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

Rowan University admits 77.7% of applicants, a rate that sits right alongside the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 22,410 applicants, 17,152 admitted students, and 3,455 enrolled first-year students.

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
77.7%
25th percentile
1100
Median
1200
75th percentile
1300

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

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Rowan University briefing

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

The largest programs at Rowan University show a clear split between higher-earning business and technical fields and more moderate-earning social sciences and communications four years after completion. Business Administration and Management is the strongest earner among the largest programs, with a median of $73,631 and 310 degrees awarded.

Azimuth ranks it #106 nationally within its field. Psychology, the largest program at 432 degrees awarded, reports a median of $51,878 and an Azimuth national rank of #120.

The highest-earning programs are smaller engineering and computing fields. Computer and Information Sciences graduates earn a median of $86,475 from 150 degrees awarded, and Azimuth ranks it #106 nationally within its field.

Biology, at 307 degrees awarded, sits between the two ends with a median of $64,921 and an Azimuth national rank of #66.

Rowan University has 36 bachelor's programs that carry an Azimuth national rank. The best-ranked include English Language and Literature/Letters at #2 (28 degrees awarded, median $47,677 four years after completion), Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technicians at #3 (102 degrees awarded, $46,969), and Computer Programming at #6 (122 degrees awarded, $60,493).

Human Resources Management and Services ranks #26 nationally with 45 degrees awarded and a median of $73,035. Chemistry sits at #27 with 25 degrees awarded and median earnings of $79,695.

Rowan University awards bachelor's degrees across a broad set of fields, with 41 programs reporting four-year earnings data and 36 earning an Azimuth national rank. The largest program families are Business, which accounts for 15.6% of degrees awarded, and Psychology at 10.2%.

The three largest individual programs are Psychology with 432 degrees awarded, Business Administration and Management with 310, and Biology with 307. The strongest programs by national rank are spread across several fields.

English Language and Literature/Letters is ranked #2 nationally and #1 in New Jersey within its field, with 28 degrees awarded. Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technicians has 102 degrees awarded and a benchmark ratio of 1.05x against the national median for its field, ranking #1 in New Jersey within its field.

Computer Programming ranks #6 nationally and #1 in New Jersey within its field, with 122 degrees awarded. The highest-earning program is Electrical Engineering, where graduates earn a median of $104,215 four years after completion, from 58 degrees awarded a year.

The pattern is one of strength in targeted programs rather than across the board. The highest-ranked programs include a mix of literature, communication, and technical fields, while the highest earnings come from engineering and nursing, which are smaller by degree count.

Business Administration and Management, the second-largest program, has median earnings of $73,631, while Psychology, the largest, earns $51,878. 23.5% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Psychology, General 432 degrees awarded
$51,878
Business Administration, Management and Operations 310 degrees awarded
$73,631
Biology, General 307 degrees awarded
$64,921
Criminal Justice and Corrections 259 degrees awarded
$56,226
Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication 190 degrees awarded
$62,661
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods 167 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report

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 / Rowan University briefing

How does Rowan University serve students from different backgrounds?

Azimuth ranks Rowan University #93 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 67.4%, and Pell recipients complete at a nearly identical 67.3%, a figure that sits below the overall rate by 0.1 percentage points.

Graduates earn about $6,937 less than the model expects for similar students, a result that sits in the 29th percentile. The mobility pillar is strong, even as the return picture shows earnings that trail the model's expectation.

Rowan University enrolls 15,841 undergraduates and admits 77.7% of applicants, a rate that sits near the peer median of 78.1% — the middle value for comparable public universities in its size band. Azimuth places the university's access pillar in the 84th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

33.1% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 35.2% arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the student body includes a substantial share of students who began their college careers elsewhere.

06 / Rowan University briefing

What colleges are similar to Rowan 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 Rowan University.

Admissions peerElizabethtown College77.9% admitted
Comparison with Rowan University
MeasureRowan UniversityElizabethtown College
Peer earnings · 4 years$62,686$66,236+$3,550 vs Rowan University
Average annual net price$22,408$26,598+$4,190 vs Rowan University · higher cost
Admission rate77.7%77.9%
Higher-admission alternativeNew Jersey City University98.4% admitted
Comparison with Rowan University
MeasureRowan UniversityNew Jersey City University
Peer earnings · 4 years$62,686$60,965-$1,721 vs Rowan University
Average annual net price$22,408$16,053-$6,355 vs Rowan University · lower cost
Admission rate77.7%98.4%
Explore New Jersey City University →
Nearby alternativeMontclair State UniversityNearby option · NJ
Comparison with Rowan University
MeasureRowan UniversityMontclair State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$62,686$61,351-$1,335 vs Rowan University
Average annual net price$22,408$15,566-$6,842 vs Rowan University · lower cost
Admission rate77.7%87.9%
Explore Montclair State University →
Higher-earnings alternativeImmaculata University$72,836 earnings
Comparison with Rowan University
MeasureRowan UniversityImmaculata University
Peer earnings · 4 years$62,686$72,836+$10,150 vs Rowan University
Average annual net price$22,408$24,258+$1,850 vs Rowan University · higher cost
Admission rate77.7%85.8%
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Brooklyn College$3,103 average net price
Comparison with Rowan University
MeasureRowan UniversityCUNY Brooklyn College
Peer earnings · 4 years$62,686$62,833+$147 vs Rowan University
Average annual net price$22,408$3,103-$19,305 vs Rowan University · lower cost
Admission rate77.7%58.4%
Explore CUNY Brooklyn College →
Similar profileWest Chester University of PennsylvaniaMatched across several measures
Comparison with Rowan University
MeasureRowan UniversityWest Chester University of Pennsylvania
Peer earnings · 4 years$62,686$64,804+$2,118 vs Rowan University
Average annual net price$22,408$23,331+$923 vs Rowan University · higher cost
Admission rate77.7%78.4%
Explore West Chester University of Pennsylvania →

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