College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

University of Arizona

AZLarge public institution · Overall rank #75 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth ranks the University of Arizona #75 nationally.

Who it’s a good fit for

University of Arizona is a public university in Tucson, Arizona, where the degree mix is led by Business, Biological Sciences, and Health Professions. Mobility is among the highest we track, and most graduates are estimated to go into jobs rather than on to further study.

Graduates out-earn what predicts for students like them. The model attributes that to the factors it measures, while what it cannot explain subtracts.

Students who arrive with Pell Grants finish below the rate for the entering cohort as a whole, and mobility is among the highest we track. Families at the bottom of the income scale pay well below the published cost, while those at the top pay closer to it.

The admission rate is above the median for comparable institutions, and the largest programs are not the best-paid ones. A student drawn to Psychology should know that the highest earnings come from much smaller programs like Mining and Mineral Engineering.

Arizona at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
86.1%
Six-year completion[2]
67.5%
Four-year earnings[3]
$67,420

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$16,051
Median student debt[4]
$19,620
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$30,126

Arizona rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

The University of Arizona is a public university in Tucson, Arizona, enrolling 42,537 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits near the top of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (95th percentile).

The university admits 86.1% of applicants, a rate above the 78.1% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size. Of students who start full time, 82.8% return for a second year, close to the peer median of 83.1%.

The six-year graduation rate for that first-time, full-time cohort is 67.5%, which sits above the peer median of 65.0%. An estimated 26.3% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students.

The four are spread across the ranking. Mobility is the strongest, at the 97th percentile, and access follows at the 80th percentile.

Return and affordability sit closer together, at the 71st and 69th percentiles, with affordability the weakest of the four.

Azimuth ranks the University of Arizona #75 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions. The university's strongest pillar is mobility, in the 97th percentile.

The access pillar follows at the 80th percentile, and the return pillar at the 71st percentile. Affordability is the weakest pillar, in the 69th percentile.

At University of Arizona, 25.7% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, and the middle 50% of submitted SAT scores fell between 1,150 and 1,420. The middle 50% of submitted ACT scores ran from 21 to 29.

Pell recipients complete at 55.5%, a rate that falls 12.0 percentage points below the rate for the cohort as a whole (67.5%). Among nonprofit four-year institutions, Azimuth ranks the university #300 for access.

Graduates earn about $5,376 more than the model expects for similar students. Among nonprofit four-year institutions, Azimuth ranks the university #40 for mobility.

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

Arizona rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#75
West#27

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 97
Access & reach
National percentile: 80
Affordability
National percentile: 69
Return on investment
National percentile: 71

Top-ranked majors

  1. Architecture and Related Services, Other#1
  2. City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning#2
  3. Legal Professions and Studies, Other#3

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 / Arizona briefing

Arizona cost & financial aid[6][7]

The University of Arizona publishes a cost of attendance of $29,423 (an average across living arrangements). In-state tuition and fees are $13,926, and room and board adds $16,746.

Out-of-state students pay $42,278 in tuition and fees. After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients is $16,674.

That is $1,040 above the $15,634 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Aid covers about 43% of the published cost for the average aid recipient.

Azimuth ranks the university #442 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The published cost of attendance at University of Arizona is $29,423, an average across living arrangements. In-state tuition and fees are $13,926, and room and board is $16,746.

For families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $13,353. For those in the $48,001–$75,000 band, it is $16,051, and for families earning over $110,000, it is $22,307.

Azimuth ranks the university #442 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. Financial aid reduces the sticker price by an average of $12,749, bringing the across all aid recipients to $16,674.

That figure is above the median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size), a gap of $1,040. Out-of-state students face a published tuition and fees of $42,278.

The median federal student loan debt at completion is $19,620. That median is below the peer median of $20,076 for comparable institutions, a difference of $456.

About 79.3% of federal aid recipients borrow federal loans. Median Parent PLUS borrowing is $30,126.

The estimated monthly payment if repaid over ten years for the median federal debt is $223.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$16,051

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Arizona

The median federal student debt for borrowers who complete a degree at University of Arizona is $19,620. About 79.3% of federal aid recipients take federal loans.

Compared with the $20,076 median at comparable institutions (same type and size), the university's median is below by $456. Parent borrowers, a separate population, carry a median Parent PLUS loan of $30,126.

Graduates of University of Arizona earn a median of $67,420 four years after completing a degree, placing that figure at the 71st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. They earn about $5,376 more than the model expects for similar students, an outcome that sits at the 72nd percentile.

Earnings scenarios, estimated from the university's program mix, range from $48,842 in a downside case to $96,708 in an upside case, with a typical outcome of $67,420. Borrowers who finish carry a median of $19,620 in federal student loans, $456 below the $20,076 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $223 a month if repaid over ten years.

Parent borrowers at the university took on a median of $30,126 in Parent PLUS loans, a separate federal borrowing population. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $223.

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

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$19,620
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$30,126

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$223/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$383/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 / Arizona briefing

Arizona career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates of University of Arizona who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $67,420. That places the institution in the 71st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

That is $1,810 above the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Graduates earn about $5,376 more than the model expects for similar students, placing that gap at the 72nd percentile.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $10,817. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $5,441.

Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $2,234. Azimuth places the university at the 71st percentile for return.

Four years after completion, the median earnings of University of Arizona graduates stand at $67,420, placing the university in the 71st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The earnings cohort includes 6,571 federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled.

Graduates earn about $5,376 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that ranks in the 72nd percentile nationally. Earnings scenarios, which reflect the university's program mix, point to a typical outcome of $67,420, with a lower-bound scenario of $48,842 and an upper-bound scenario of $96,708.

The model estimates that 32.6% of programs' graduates continue to graduate study, a share derived from program mix rather than observed enrollment.

Federally aided completers at University of Arizona who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $67,420 four years after completion, in the 71st percentile. That median is $1,810 above the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks the university #419 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Those completers earn about $5,376 more than the model expects for similar students.

The earnings-beyond-expectations result falls at the 72nd 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 $10,817.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $5,441. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $2,234.

The earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix and not from observed groups, range from $48,842 on the downside to $96,708 on the upside. The program mix behind those estimates spans business, health professions, and engineering fields.

An estimated 32.6% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

The earnings scenarios, estimated from the university's program mix, show a wide range: from $48,842 on the downside to $96,708 on the upside, with $67,420 as the typical scenario. These are scenarios, not observed groups of graduates.

Above that scenario range, Mining and Mineral Engineering graduates earn a median of $120,031 four years after completion, from 11 degrees awarded a year. Computer Science follows at $117,451, with 212 degrees awarded.

Management Information Systems and Services, at 206 degrees a year, reports $104,513.

Graduates of University of Arizona earn about $5,376 more than the model expects for similar students. That earnings strength coincides with a median federal student debt of $19,620 for borrowers who complete a degree.

That figure is below 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 $223.

Parent PLUS borrowers, a separate population, carry a median of $30,126. The university's average net price for aid recipients is $16,674, which runs above the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions.

For families earning under $30,000, the average net price drops to $13,353, and the spread between the lowest and highest income bands is $8,954. Aid covers about 43% of the published cost for the average aid recipient.

The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 67.5%, and the Pell completion rate of 55.5% runs below the overall rate by 12.0 percentage points. The university retains 82.8% of its first-year students, and an estimated 26.3% of undergraduates enter as transfers or part-time students.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$10,817
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$5,441
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
+$5,376

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 / Arizona briefing

Arizona acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

The University of Arizona admits 86.1% of applicants, above the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size).

SAT: approximate enrolled-student range
Admission rate
86.1%
Approximate lower endpoint
1150
Reported average
1246
Approximate upper endpoint
1420

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 / Arizona briefing

What are the largest majors at Arizona?[12]

The University of Arizona's highest-earning bachelor's program is Mining and Mineral Engineering, where completers earn a median of $120,031 four years after completion, alongside 11 degrees awarded. Computer Science follows at $117,451 with 212 degrees awarded and an Azimuth national field rank of #68.

Among the largest programs, Business Administration and Management reports median earnings of $77,951 and an Azimuth national rank of #94 on 229 degrees awarded. Communication and Media Studies reaches $72,758 and ranks #19 nationally.

In a more moderate band, Psychology awards 456 degrees and shows median earnings of $52,038, ranking #121 in its field.

The University of Arizona fields 67 nationally ranked bachelor's programs, and earnings data are published for 72 fields. Several programs hold a top-ten national rank, including Architecture and Related Services at #1 with 28 degrees awarded and a median of $55,226 four years after completion.

Another is City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning at #2 with 50 degrees awarded and a median of $76,360. Among the largest programs, Communication and Media Studies ranks #19 nationally and #1 in Arizona, with 259 degrees awarded and a median of $72,758.

Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences awarded 256 degrees, ranks #21 nationally, and shows a median of $56,045. Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies ranks #9 nationally with 251 degrees awarded and a median of $53,471.

The University of Arizona awards bachelor's degrees across a broad set of fields, with 67 programs earning an Azimuth national rank and 72 programs carrying published four-year earnings data. The degree mix is led by the Business family, which accounts for 16.1% of degrees awarded, followed by Biological Sciences at 9.1% and Health Professions at 8.3%.

The largest single program is Psychology, at 456 degrees awarded, with Communication and Media Studies next at 259 degrees awarded and Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences close behind at 256 degrees awarded. The strongest programs by national rank are concentrated in professional and technical fields.

Architecture and Related Services awards 28 degrees a year and its graduates earn a median of $55,226 four years after completion. City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning is #1 in Arizona within its field, with 50 degrees awarded and median earnings of $76,360.

That program carries a benchmark ratio of 1.14x against the national median for its field. The highest-earning program is a much smaller one: Mining and Mineral Engineering graduates earn a median of $120,031 four years out, from 11 degrees awarded.

Computer Science, a larger program at 212 degrees awarded, follows with median earnings of $117,451 and an Azimuth rank of #68 nationally within its field. The pattern is one of strength spread across several fields rather than concentrated in a single department.

The largest programs by degrees awarded are not the highest-earning, and the highest-earning programs are not the largest, a gap that is clearest between Psychology and Mining and Mineral Engineering. Several programs with strong national ranks sit outside the top five by earnings, which is common for fields where graduate study extends the earnings picture beyond the four-year window. Across all fields, 23.5% of degrees awarded are in STEM.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Psychology, General 456 degrees awarded
$52,038
Communication and Media Studies 259 degrees awarded
$72,758
Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences 256 degrees awarded
$56,045
Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, General 251 degrees awarded
$53,471
Business Administration, Management and Operations 229 degrees awarded
$77,951
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 221 degrees awarded
$88,892

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 / Arizona briefing

How does Arizona serve students from different backgrounds?

Azimuth places University of Arizona in the 97th percentile for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 67.5%, while Pell recipients complete at 55.5% — below the overall rate by 12.0 percentage points.

Four years after completion, graduates earn about $5,376 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that sits in the 72nd percentile nationally.

Azimuth places the access pillar of University of Arizona in the 80th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The public university admits 86.1% of applicants, and an estimated 26.3% of its 42,537 undergraduates enter as transfers or part-time students. Pell Grant recipients make up 25.7% of the undergraduate body.

06 / Arizona briefing

What colleges are similar to Arizona?[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 Arizona.

Admissions peerUniversity of Oklahoma-Norman Campus76.6% admitted
Comparison with Arizona
MeasureArizonaUniversity of Oklahoma-Norman Campus
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,420$73,280+$5,860 vs Arizona
Average annual net price$16,674$15,300-$1,374 vs Arizona · lower cost
Admission rate86.1%76.6%
Explore University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus →
Higher-admission alternativeOklahoma Christian University96.5% admitted
Comparison with Arizona
MeasureArizonaOklahoma Christian University
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,420$67,575+$155 vs Arizona
Average annual net price$16,674$21,872+$5,198 vs Arizona · higher cost
Admission rate86.1%96.5%
Nearby alternativeArizona State University Campus ImmersionNearby option · AZ
Comparison with Arizona
MeasureArizonaArizona State University Campus Immersion
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,420$66,968-$452 vs Arizona
Average annual net price$16,674$14,967-$1,707 vs Arizona · lower cost
Admission rate86.1%89.9%
Explore Arizona State University Campus Immersion →
Higher-earnings alternativeUniversity of Massachusetts-Lowell$81,163 earnings
Comparison with Arizona
MeasureArizonaUniversity of Massachusetts-Lowell
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,420$81,163+$13,743 vs Arizona
Average annual net price$16,674$17,163+$489 vs Arizona · higher cost
Admission rate86.1%83.0%
Explore University of Massachusetts-Lowell →
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Brooklyn College$3,103 average net price
Comparison with Arizona
MeasureArizonaCUNY Brooklyn College
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,420$62,833-$4,587 vs Arizona
Average annual net price$16,674$3,103-$13,571 vs Arizona · lower cost
Admission rate86.1%58.4%
Explore CUNY Brooklyn College →
Similar profileUniversity of HoustonMatched across several measures
Comparison with Arizona
MeasureArizonaUniversity of Houston
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,420$68,091+$671 vs Arizona
Average annual net price$16,674$14,276-$2,398 vs Arizona · lower cost
Admission rate86.1%73.9%
Explore University of Houston →

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