Percentile rankings vs 1,600+ peer institutions. Higher is better.
Career OutcomesAzimuth ranks Samuel Merritt University #322 for overall value on Azimuth's composite among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn median 4-year earnings of $148,182, placing Samuel Merritt University in the 100.0 percentile for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks Samuel Merritt University #14 for return on investment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Students at Samuel Merritt University enter a health-focused curriculum that translates directly into strong early-career earnings, placing the university among the higher-performing institutions in the Azimuth coverage set for graduate financial outcomes. The institution's return on investment ranking reflects a concentrated program portfolio in health sciences — fields with consistent employer demand and relatively direct pathways from degree to career.
Azimuth ranks Samuel Merritt University #322 for overall value on Azimuth's composite among nonprofit four-year institutions. A private university in Oakland, CA, Samuel Merritt University enrolls roughly 718 undergraduates and focuses its academic mission almost entirely on the health professions, with Health representing the overwhelming majority of degree output. Where Samuel Merritt University performs strongest is return on investment. Azimuth ranks Samuel Merritt University #14 for return on investment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn median earnings four years after enrollment of $148,182, a figure that reflects the institution's deep concentration in nursing, allied health, and clinical programs — fields that translate reliably into well-compensated, in-demand careers. That earnings profile places Samuel Merritt University well above the $57,042 median at comparable institutions in the Azimuth coverage set. Access and mobility sit lower in the composite. Samuel Merritt University enrolls 18.4% Pell Grant recipients and 32.0% first-generation undergraduates — figures that reflect the institution's specialized, graduate-adjacent character rather than a broad-access posture. Azimuth ranks Samuel Merritt University in the 2.2 percentile for access and the 30.0 percentile for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions, outcomes shaped by the institution's narrow program focus and the population it primarily serves.
Samuel Merritt University's cost structure reflects its position as a specialized health-sciences institution in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a private nonprofit focused on nursing, allied health, and graduate health professions, the university's pricing and aid structure differ from broad-based research universities. Net price information by income band is not publicly detailed in standard Scorecard reporting for this institution, which is common for smaller health-focused colleges where enrollment is concentrated in professional and graduate programs rather than traditional undergraduate cohorts. Median federal student loan debt at graduation is $20,825, which is below the peer median of $25,000 for comparable private health-sciences institutions. This lower debt load reflects both the institution's aid practices and the relatively shorter duration of many health-professions programs — nursing and allied health degrees often compress into two to three years rather than the traditional four-year undergraduate path. Families using Parent PLUS borrow a median of $28,226; private or institutional loans may add further borrowing that falls outside these federal-only figures — see the Parent PLUS risk framework for how household context shapes PLUS decisions. For a graduate at the institution's median four-year earnings of $148,182, median federal debt of $20,825 projects to a monthly payment of about $235 under standard ten-year repayment. In a downside earnings scenario anchored on lower-paying program clusters, four-year earnings of $148,193 would compress monthly slack considerably — a pattern worth exploring at the program level rather than the institutional average. For personalized projections across earnings scenarios — including Parent PLUS planning — use Azimuth's Financial GPS tool.
Samuel Merritt University is a strong fit for students whose academic goals center on health professions — nursing, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, and related clinical fields — and who want a focused, professionally oriented private institution in the Oakland, CA area rather than a broad research university experience. The earnings case is clear. Graduates earn in the 100.0 percentile for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions, reflecting the strong and stable demand for licensed health professionals in the West labor market. Azimuth ranks Samuel Merritt University #14 for return on investment among nonprofit four-year institutions, a signal that the institution's concentrated health-program portfolio translates into reliable post-graduation financial outcomes. The access picture is more selective. 18.4% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants and 32.0% are first-generation students — a narrower access profile than many public institutions. Samuel Merritt University sits in the 99.4 percentile for low-income graduate earnings among nonprofit four-year institutions on a historical 10-year Scorecard measure, suggesting that students from lower-income backgrounds who do enroll and complete a degree tend to reach strong earnings outcomes, though median debt of $20,825 means borrowing is a real consideration for families weighing the investment. Fit depends on two realistic filters: program interest must align squarely with Health fields, since Samuel Merritt University offers little breadth outside that domain, and students should weigh the debt load carefully against their specific clinical career path before enrolling.
This school profile was generated using Azimuth's proprietary ROI framework, developed by founder Daniel Rogers. Our methodology transforms federal education data into actionable insights for families.
College Azimuth is a private research initiative and is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education or Federal Student Aid. Data sourced from College Scorecard.
This content is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, investment, or professional advice. Consult a qualified advisor before making any financial decisions.
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Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
508 graduates
Samuel Merritt University is a specialized health sciences university in Oakland, California, with a program mix concentrated almost entirely in clinical and professional health fields. As a focused institution, it graduates students across 1 programs, with 1 meeting Azimuth's ranking threshold — a portfolio shaped by deep investment in nursing, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, and related health disciplines rather than breadth across academic families.
The dominant program family is Health, which defines the institution's academic identity and labor-market positioning. Nursing stands out as the program combining the largest graduate cohort with strong earnings, making it the primary driver of the institution's overall return profile.
Nursing is the most popular program, graduating 508 students and delivering median earnings of $148,193 four years after enrollment; Azimuth ranks Nursing #1 for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions. The institution's highest-earning program, Nursing, program graduates 508 students with median earnings of $148,193 four years after enrollment, and Azimuth ranks Nursing #1 for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions.
These figures reflect the strong and relatively consistent wage floors that characterize licensed clinical professions, where credentialing requirements compress the lower end of the earnings distribution. The health-sciences concentration means that most Samuel Merritt University graduates enter local-labor markets — hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, and community health systems — rather than high-mobility national career tracks in technology or finance.
That pattern is a feature of the program mix, not a limitation: licensed health professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area enter one of the highest-demand and highest-compensating regional labor markets in the country for clinical roles. For context on how health-sciences fields align with national workforce demand, see [supply and demand for college graduates](/analysis/supply-demand-map-college-degrees/).
Data not available for this income tier.
Based on federal data for students receiving aid. Actual costs may vary.
Samuel Merritt University's cost structure reflects its position as a specialized health-sciences institution in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a private nonprofit focused on nursing, allied health, and graduate health professions, the university's pricing and aid structure differ from broad-based research universities.
Net price information by income band is not publicly detailed in standard Scorecard reporting for this institution, which is common for smaller health-focused colleges where enrollment is concentrated in professional and graduate programs rather than traditional undergraduate cohorts. Median federal student loan debt at graduation is $20,825, which is below the peer median of $25,000 for comparable private health-sciences institutions.
This lower debt load reflects both the institution's aid practices and the relatively shorter duration of many health-professions programs — nursing and allied health degrees often compress into two to three years rather than the traditional four-year undergraduate path. Families using Parent PLUS borrow a median of $28,226; private or institutional loans may add further borrowing that falls outside these federal-only figures — see the [Parent PLUS risk framework](/analysis/ou-what-happens-when-parents-borrow-too/) for how household context shapes PLUS decisions.
For a graduate at the institution's median four-year earnings of $148,182, median federal debt of $20,825 projects to a monthly payment of about $235 under standard ten-year repayment. In a downside earnings scenario anchored on lower-paying program clusters, four-year earnings of $148,193 would compress monthly slack considerably — a pattern worth exploring at the program level rather than the institutional average.
For personalized projections across earnings scenarios — including Parent PLUS planning — use [Azimuth's Financial GPS tool](/analysis/financial-gps-framework/).
Graduates earn median 4-year earnings of $148,182, placing Samuel Merritt University in the 100.0 percentile for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions. That figure runs well above the $57,042 median at comparable institutions (same control and size band), a gap that reflects the institution's deep concentration in health professions — fields where licensure requirements and strong employer demand translate into reliable early-career pay.
Azimuth ranks Samuel Merritt University #14 for return on investment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Samuel Merritt University also sits in the 99.4 percentile for low-income graduate earnings among nonprofit four-year institutions — a [historical 10-year Scorecard measure](/analysis/college-scorecard-2026-4-year-vs-10-year-earnings-2-2/) not yet updated to the four-year horizon.
The program lineup at Samuel Merritt University is tightly focused on Health fields, which shapes both the earnings floor and the ceiling for most graduates. Nursing is the institution's highest aggregate-return program by combined cohort scale and earnings, anchoring the school's overall return profile.
Nursing is the largest program, graduating 508 students and delivering median earnings of $148,193 four years after enrollment — Azimuth ranks Nursing #1 for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions [per the program-ranking methodology](/analysis/college-program-rankings-how-to-actually-evaluate-programs/), at 1.7x the national benchmark for the field. Because Samuel Merritt University trains graduates almost exclusively for credentialed health careers in CA, outcomes are relatively consistent across the program portfolio — students who complete a degree here enter labor markets where demand is durable and starting salaries are well above the broad four-year average.
