Top Ranked Programs
Saginaw Valley State University's program mix is anchored in health, education, and applied professional fields — a signature consistent with its regional public university identity in mid-Michigan. The dominant program family is Health, which accounts for 15% of graduates, followed by Business at 15% and Arts at 5%. Across 41 programs serving roughly 1,421 students annually, the institution concentrates its degree output in fields with direct workforce pathways rather than research-track or graduate-school-dependent pipelines. The program with the strongest combination of enrollment scale and earnings is Nursing, which anchors Saginaw Valley State University's economic profile by pairing a large graduating cohort with competitive four-year earnings. Among the most popular programs, Nursing program graduates 178 students and delivers median earnings of $81,103 four years after enrollment, with Azimuth ranking the program #215 for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Special Education and Teaching and Social Work round out the high-enrollment tier, each feeding graduates into stable regional labor markets where demand for health and education professionals remains steady. The highest-earning programs at Saginaw Valley State University reflect the institution's health-sciences depth. Nursing leads on earnings, with graduates posting median earnings of $81,103 four years after enrollment — Azimuth ranks the program #215 for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions and Criminal Justice follow, both representing high-mobility direct-to-workforce pathways where graduates enter licensed or credentialed roles with strong hiring demand. For context on how these fields align with national labor-market trends, see [supply and demand for college graduates](/analysis/supply-demand-map-college-degrees/).