College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

State University of New York at Oswego

NYMedium public institution · Overall rank #337 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth ranks State University of New York at Oswego #337 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

State University of New York at Oswego is a public university in Oswego, New York, whose degree mix is led by Business and Communication & Journalism, with mobility well above average. Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them.

The model attributes the gap to a remainder it does not explain, which subtracts, while the factors it measures—field of study, enrollment and the local labor market—adds to expected earnings. Return is modestly below average, the weakest of the four .

The lowest income band pays well below the published cost, and the spread between the lowest and highest bands is wide. Pell students complete at a rate above the overall rate, and access is well above average alongside affordability that is above average.

The admission rate is below the median for comparable public universities of similar size. The highest-earning programs are much smaller than the largest ones: the top-earning program graduates earn substantially more than those in the largest program, from a fraction of the degrees awarded.

SUNY Oswego at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
80.5%
Six-year completion[2]
60.4%
Four-year earnings[3]
$59,955

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$17,412
Median student debt[4]
$20,880
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$19,416

SUNY Oswego rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

State University of New York at Oswego is a public university in Oswego, New York, enrolling 5,473 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the upper middle of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The university admits 80.5% of applicants, a rate somewhat below the 85.9% median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Of students who start full time, 70.5% return for a second year, against a peer median of 73.7%.

The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 60.4%, well above the peer median of 49.1%. An estimated 29.9% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the first-time full-time graduation rate describes a majority of the student body but not all of it.

The four pillars sit in a clear order. Mobility is the strongest, and return is the weakest.

Access and affordability sit between them, closer to mobility than to return, giving the profile a consistent shape.

State University of New York at Oswego's strongest pillar is mobility, where Azimuth places the university in the 87th percentile among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions. The access and affordability pillars also land above the median, in the 76th and 73rd percentiles respectively.

The return pillar is the weakest, sitting in the 36th percentile. The composite rank across all four pillars is #337.

39.6% of undergraduates at State University of New York at Oswego receive Pell Grants. The middle 50% of submitted SAT scores fell between 1,070 and 1,270.

The middle 50% of submitted ACT scores fell between 23 and 29. Azimuth ranks the university #360 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients complete at 62.5%, which is 2.1 percentage points above the overall six-year graduation rate (60.4%). Azimuth ranks the university #186 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $5,000 less than the model expects for similar students.

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

SUNY Oswego rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#337

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 87
Access & reach
National percentile: 76
Affordability
National percentile: 73
Return on investment
National percentile: 36

Top-ranked majors

  1. Zoology/Animal Biology#20
  2. Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas#23
  3. Radio, Television, and Digital Communication#26

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 / SUNY Oswego briefing

SUNY Oswego cost & financial aid[6][7]

The published cost of attendance at State University of New York at Oswego is $27,052, with in-state tuition and fees at $8,825 and room and board at $16,290. Out-of-state students face tuition and fees of $18,735.

After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients is $16,236. That is $2,168 above the $14,068 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Aid covers about 40% of the published cost for the average aid recipient. Azimuth ranks the university #383 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

At State University of New York at Oswego, the published cost of attendance is $27,052, with in-state tuition and fees of $8,825 and room and board at $16,290. For families earning under $30,000, the average net price—what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships—is $8,714.

For the middle band ($48,001–$75,000) it is $17,412, and for families earning over $110,000 it is $23,087. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $14,373, a difference of averages that reflects the university's progressive aid structure.

Azimuth ranks State University of New York at Oswego #383 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. Aid covers about 40% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, a savings of $10,816 against the sticker price.

The across all aid recipients is $16,236, which sits above the peer median of $14,068 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $2,168. Out-of-state students face a higher published tuition of $18,735, though their net price will depend on individual aid eligibility.

Graduates who borrow federal loans leave with a median federal student debt of $20,880; 91.3% of federal aid recipients take federal loans. That median is below the peer median of $21,229 by $349.

For a graduate at the median four-year earnings, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $237 a month if repaid over ten years. Parents who borrow through Parent PLUS carry a separate median of $19,416.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$17,412

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at SUNY Oswego

Borrowing is widespread at State University of New York at Oswego—91.3% of federal aid recipients take federal loans—but the amounts completers carry are moderate. The median federal student debt at completion is $20,880.

That median sits below the $21,229 median for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $349. Parent borrowers, a separate population, carry a median Parent PLUS loan of $19,416.

The return picture at State University of New York at Oswego is mixed. Graduates earn a median of $59,955 four years after completion, which sits above the $57,301 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Yet they earn about $5,000 less than the model expects for similar students. Earnings scenarios from the university's program mix show a downside scenario of $43,103 and an upside scenario of $70,125.

The median earnings figure lands in the 51st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, while the earnings-beyond-expectations result falls in the 37th percentile. Borrowers finish with a median federal student debt of $20,880, which is below the $21,229 median for comparable institutions.

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $237 a month if repaid over ten years. The return pillar ranks #944 among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Parent PLUS loans, a separate federal borrowing population for parents, carry a median of $19,416 at State University of New York at Oswego. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $237.

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

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$20,880
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$19,416

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$237/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$247/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 / SUNY Oswego briefing

SUNY Oswego career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

State University of New York at Oswego's strongest pillar is mobility, not return. Azimuth places the return pillar in the 36th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $5,000 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 37th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $2,559.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $7,559. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $656.

Four years after completion, completers earn a median of $59,955, in the 51st percentile nationally. That figure is above the peer median of $57,301 among comparable institutions (same type and size), a gap of $2,654.

The median sits above the peer benchmark while the model expects more, so the two return signals point in opposite directions.

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates of State University of New York at Oswego who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $59,955. That figure is based on a cohort of 2,305 completers and sits at the 51st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $5,000 less than the model expects for similar students. Earnings scenarios, estimated from the university's program mix, put the typical outcome at $59,955, with a downside of $43,103 and an upside of $70,125.

An estimated 27.3% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

State University of New York at Oswego posts a median of $59,955 four years after completion, at the 51st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The median is $2,654 above the $57,301 level for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks the university #944 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $5,000 less than the model expects for similar students.

The result falls at the 37th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions overall. That gap is measured against the model's expectation for students with similar backgrounds.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $2,559. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $7,559.

Within the measured factors, the STEM component alone adds $656. Degrees awarded cluster in business, communication and education fields, while a smaller share falls in STEM disciplines at this campus.

Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, span from $43,103 on the downside to $70,125 on the upside. An estimated 27.3% of graduates continue on to graduate study afterward, based on the program mix.

The earnings scenarios at State University of New York at Oswego span from a downside of $43,103 to an upside of $70,125 four years after completion. That range reflects the variation across the university's 27 programs with published earnings data.

The highest-earning fields show the upper end of that spread. Economics completers earn a median of $87,667, while Information Science/Studies graduates reach $74,812 and Finance completers earn $72,784.

The large Business Administration and Management program, which awards 199 degrees, sits at $66,048—above the school median but below the national median for the field.

Graduates of State University of New York at Oswego earn about $5,000 less than the model expects for similar students, yet the debt side of the ledger is relatively light. The median federal student debt for borrowers who complete a degree is $20,880, which runs below the median of $21,229 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

If repaid over ten years, that debt would mean a monthly payment of $237. The average net price—what first-time, full-time in-state aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships—is $16,236, which is above the peer median of $14,068.

Parent PLUS borrowers, a separate population, carry a median of $19,416. A below-peer debt load and a modest monthly payment coincide with earnings that beat the peer median, even as the model expects more.

The spread in average net price between the lowest and highest income bands is $14,373.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$2,559
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$7,559
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$5,000

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 / SUNY Oswego briefing

SUNY Oswego acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

State University of New York at Oswego admits 80.5% of applicants, a rate that sits below the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size). The gap is modest, and the rate describes broad access rather than narrow selectivity.

SAT: approximate enrolled-student range
Admission rate
80.5%
Approximate lower endpoint
1070
Reported average
1187
Approximate upper endpoint
1270

Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / SUNY Oswego briefing

What are the largest majors at SUNY Oswego?[12]

The university's largest programs span a wide earnings range, from Business Administration and Management at $66,048 to Radio, Television, and Digital Communication at $48,489 four years after completion. Business Administration and Management awarded 199 degrees and holds an Azimuth national rank of #172 within its field, while Radio, Television, and Digital Communication, with 124 degrees awarded, ranks #26 nationally and #4 in New York.

The highest-earning program, Economics, reaches a median of $87,667, though it awarded only 7 degrees. Finance follows at $72,784 with 52 degrees awarded and an Azimuth national rank of #134 in its field.

Accounting comes next at $70,218 on 49 degrees awarded. The spread between the highest-earning program and the largest programs is wide, with Economics well above the university's median and several large fields sitting closer to it.

State University of New York at Oswego publishes earnings data for 27 bachelor's programs, 19 of which hold an Azimuth national rank. The largest, Business Administration and Management, awarded 199 degrees and shows a median of $66,048 four years after completion, ranking #172 nationally.

Several programs carry strong national ranks. Zoology/Animal Biology ranks #20 nationally and #1 in New York, with 54 degrees awarded and a median of $40,755.

Subject-Area Teacher Education ranks #23 nationally, awarding 100 degrees and showing a median of $59,412. Radio, Television, and Digital Communication ranks #26 nationally and #4 in New York, with 124 degrees awarded.

Its median is $48,489. The highest-earning program, Economics, shows a median of $87,667 though it awarded only 7 degrees.

State University of New York at Oswego awards bachelor's degrees across 19 programs with an Azimuth national rank and 27 with published four-year earnings data. Business is the largest program family, accounting for 23.4% of degrees awarded, followed by Communication & Journalism at 13.4% and Education at 10.0%.

The largest single programs are Business Administration and Management at 199 degrees awarded, Radio, Television, and Digital Communication at 124, and Psychology at 106. The highest-ranked program is Zoology/Animal Biology, which awards 54 degrees a year and ranks #1 in New York within its field.

Subject-Area Teacher Education, the fifth-largest program, ranks #23 nationally and #10 in New York within its field, with median earnings of $59,412 four years after completion. Radio, Television, and Digital Communication is both the second-largest program and the third-highest-ranked, at #26 nationally and #4 in New York within its field.

Teacher Education carries a benchmark ratio of 1.22x against the national median for its field, with median earnings of $57,622 four years after completion. The highest-earning program is a much smaller one: Economics graduates earn $87,667 four years out, from 7 degrees a year.

Information Science/Studies and Finance follow, at $74,812 and $72,784 respectively, though their benchmark ratios sit below the national median for their fields. The program mix shows strength concentrated in education and communication fields, where several programs hold top-fifty national ranks.

The largest programs in business and psychology post earnings near or above their field medians, while the best-paid outcomes come from small cohorts in economics and information science. Across all fields, 14.0% of degrees are in STEM.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Business Administration, Management and Operations 199 degrees awarded
$66,048
Radio, Television, and Digital Communication 124 degrees awarded
$48,489
Psychology, General 106 degrees awarded
$52,023
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas 100 degrees awarded
$59,412
Criminal Justice and Corrections 100 degrees awarded
$59,563
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness 92 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 / SUNY Oswego briefing

How does SUNY Oswego serve students from different backgrounds?

Mobility is the strongest pillar for State University of New York at Oswego. Azimuth places the university in the 87th percentile for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients complete at 62.5%, above the overall six-year graduation rate of 60.4% by 2.1 percentage points. Four years after completion, graduates earn about $5,000 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 37th percentile. That mobility standing and the earnings result pull in opposite directions.

State University of New York at Oswego, a public university in Oswego, New York, enrolls 5,473 undergraduates and admits 80.5% of applicants. Among nonprofit four-year institutions, the university's access pillar is in the 76th percentile.

39.6% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 29.9% of the student body transfers in. The admission rate, Pell share, and transfer estimate all point the same way.

06 / SUNY Oswego briefing

What colleges are similar to SUNY Oswego?[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 SUNY Oswego.

Admissions peerLe Moyne College83.0% admitted
Comparison with SUNY Oswego
MeasureSUNY OswegoLe Moyne College
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,955$66,403+$6,448 vs SUNY Oswego
Average annual net price$16,236$22,277+$6,041 vs SUNY Oswego · higher cost
Admission rate80.5%83.0%
Explore Le Moyne College →
Higher-admission alternativeSt. Thomas Aquinas College93.1% admitted
Comparison with SUNY Oswego
MeasureSUNY OswegoSt. Thomas Aquinas College
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,955$60,309+$354 vs SUNY Oswego
Average annual net price$16,236$19,994+$3,758 vs SUNY Oswego · higher cost
Admission rate80.5%93.1%
Nearby alternativeLe Moyne CollegeNearby option · NY
Comparison with SUNY Oswego
MeasureSUNY OswegoLe Moyne College
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,955$66,403+$6,448 vs SUNY Oswego
Average annual net price$16,236$22,277+$6,041 vs SUNY Oswego · higher cost
Admission rate80.5%83.0%
Explore Le Moyne College →
Higher-earnings alternativeUniversity of Massachusetts-Lowell$81,163 earnings
Comparison with SUNY Oswego
MeasureSUNY OswegoUniversity of Massachusetts-Lowell
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,955$81,163+$21,208 vs SUNY Oswego
Average annual net price$16,236$17,163+$927 vs SUNY Oswego · higher cost
Admission rate80.5%83.0%
Explore University of Massachusetts-Lowell →
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Brooklyn College$3,103 average net price
Comparison with SUNY Oswego
MeasureSUNY OswegoCUNY Brooklyn College
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,955$62,833+$2,878 vs SUNY Oswego
Average annual net price$16,236$3,103-$13,133 vs SUNY Oswego · lower cost
Admission rate80.5%58.4%
Explore CUNY Brooklyn College →
Similar profileRhode Island CollegeMatched across several measures
Comparison with SUNY Oswego
MeasureSUNY OswegoRhode Island College
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,955$59,430-$525 vs SUNY Oswego
Average annual net price$16,236$9,478-$6,758 vs SUNY Oswego · lower cost
Admission rate80.5%91.8%
Explore Rhode Island College →

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