College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

University of Central Florida

FLLarge public institution · Overall rank #19 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Ranked #9 nationally for upward mobility.

Who it’s a good fit for

University of Central Florida is a public university in Orlando, Florida, where the degree mix is led by Business and Health Professions. Most graduates are estimated to go into jobs rather than on to further study.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them. 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.

Students who arrive with Pell Grants finish well below the rate for the entering cohort as a whole, yet mobility is among the highest we track. Access is among the highest we track, and affordability is among the highest we track.

The admission rate is below the median for comparable institutions. A student drawn to the largest programs should know that the best-paid ones are in engineering and computing, not psychology or biology.

UCF at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
40.1%
Six-year completion[2]
78.0%
Four-year earnings[3]
$61,355

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$10,128
Median student debt[4]
$18,190
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$16,036

UCF rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

With 59,146 undergraduates, University of Central Florida is a public university in Orlando, Florida. Among nonprofit four-year institutions, it lands near the top of the ranking (99th percentile).

Only 40.1% of applicants gain admission, a share that sits well below the 78.1% peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions of the same type and size. First-year retention reaches 92.3%, and the six-year graduation rate for the first-time, full-time cohort is 78.0%.

Both of those figures exceed the peer medians of 83.1% and 65.0%. Because an estimated 53.4% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students, that graduation rate captures only a minority of the people who actually study at the university.

Return is the weakest of the four (37th percentile), while mobility is the strongest (99th percentile). Access and affordability sit close together near the top (97th and 92nd percentiles).

The four pillars are far apart here, a pattern that coincides with the university's place in the ranking.

Azimuth ranks University of Central Florida #19 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions. The strongest pillar is mobility, at the 99th percentile, and the weakest is return, at the 37th percentile. Access sits at the 97th percentile and affordability at the 92nd percentile.

32.3% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants. Among enrolled students who submitted SAT scores, the middle 50% fell between 1,200 and 1,350.

For the ACT, the middle 50% ranged from 25 to 29. Azimuth ranks University of Central Florida #51 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

That rank sits alongside a Pell completion rate of 56.3%, which is 21.7 percentage points below the overall six-year graduation rate (78.0%). For mobility, Azimuth ranks the university #9 among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $7,712 less than the model expects for similar students.

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

UCF rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#19

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 99
Access & reach
National percentile: 97
Affordability
National percentile: 92
Return on investment
National percentile: 37

Top-ranked majors

  1. Visual and Performing Arts, General#1
  2. Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management#3
  3. Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, General#7

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 / UCF briefing

UCF cost & financial aid[6][7]

The University of Central Florida lists a published cost of attendance of $23,133. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported in-state tuition of $6,368 and on-campus food and housing of $12,436 for the 2026-27 academic year.

Nonresidents face tuition of $26,732. After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients is $10,411, which is $5,223 below the $15,634 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks the university #116 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. Financial aid reduces the published cost by $12,722 on average, covering about 55% of the sticker price for the typical aid recipient.

The University of Central Florida publishes a cost of attendance of $23,133. For families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $5,816.

In the $48,001–$75,000 band, the is $10,128, and for families earning over $110,000 it is $17,681. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $11,865.

Azimuth ranks the university #116 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. Aid covers about 55% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, an offset of roughly $12,722.

The average net price across all aid recipients is $10,411. Among comparable institutions (same type and size), the peer median net price is $15,634, which places the university below by $5,223.

The median federal student debt at completion is $18,190, with about 69.8% of federal aid recipients borrowing. The peer median debt is $20,076, so the university's figure is below by $1,886.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing stands at $16,036. The median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $207 a month if repaid over ten years.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$10,128

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at UCF

That figure sits below the $20,076 median for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $1,886. Among federal aid recipients, 69.8% of federal aid recipients take federal loans.

Parent borrowers, a separate population, carry a median Parent PLUS loan of $16,036. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that 30% of the 6,672 bachelor's graduates who started as first-time students borrowed from any source, averaging $21,003 per borrower.

Of those graduates, 30% held federal loans averaging $18,019, including 4% with private loans averaging $25,394.

Four years after completing a degree at the University of Central Florida, graduates earn a median of $61,355, a figure that sits in the 55th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. That median is below the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Graduates earn about $7,712 less than the model expects for similar students, an outcome in the 26th percentile nationally. Earnings scenarios derived from the university's program mix point to a typical earnings level of $61,355, with a downside scenario of $48,746 and an upside scenario of $89,772.

Borrowers finish with a median federal student debt of $18,190, which is below the $20,076 median for comparable institutions. The estimated monthly payment if repaid over ten years is $207.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $16,036. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $207.

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

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$18,190
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$16,036

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$207/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$204/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 / UCF briefing

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

University of Central Florida reports median earnings of $61,355 four years after completion. That institution-wide figure is a starting point; results for particular fields can differ.

Read earnings alongside retention and completion. Earnings among completers do not include every student who entered the institution, while the lower and higher planning estimates describe modeled mixes of program outcomes rather than observed salary percentiles.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$6,576
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$14,288
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$7,712

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 / UCF briefing

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

The University of Central Florida admits 40.1% of applicants, well below the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university received 59,629 first-year applicants, admitted 25,522, and enrolled 8,103.

SAT: approximate enrolled-student range
Admission rate
40.1%
Approximate lower endpoint
1200
Reported average
1269
Approximate upper endpoint
1350

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 / UCF briefing

What are the largest majors at UCF?[12]

The largest program records at University of Central Florida, by reported degrees awarded, are: Psychology, General (1,456 awards); Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General (887 awards); Biology, General (827 awards); Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (773 awards); Computer and Information Sciences, General (765 awards). These counts describe degree output in the source reporting period, not current enrollment or unique people.

Among those larger programs, reported median earnings four years after completion include Psychology, General at $49,760; Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General at $56,148; Biology, General at $51,313. Program size and earnings answer different questions; the largest program need not have the highest earnings.

Keep individual program records separate from broader degree categories and from records for other reporting periods. Those views can describe different parts of the university’s academic mix.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Psychology, General 1,456 degrees awarded
$49,760
Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General 887 degrees awarded
$56,148
Biology, General 827 degrees awarded
$51,313
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 773 degrees awarded
$83,737
Computer and Information Sciences, General 765 degrees awarded
$98,526
Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, General 699 degrees awarded
$51,959

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 / UCF briefing

How does UCF serve students from different backgrounds?

Among nonprofit four-year institutions, University of Central Florida reaches the 99th percentile for mobility. Azimuth ranks the university #9 for the same pillar.

Pell recipients complete at 56.3%, below the overall six-year graduation rate of 78.0% by 21.7 percentage points. Graduates earn about $7,712 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 26th percentile.

Azimuth places the access pillar of University of Central Florida in the 97th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The public university admits 40.1% of applicants and enrolls 59,146 undergraduates.

Pell Grant recipients make up 32.3% of the undergraduate body, and an estimated 53.4% arrive as transfers or part-time students.

06 / UCF briefing

What colleges are similar to UCF?[15]

The comparisons for University of Central Florida cover higher reported admission rates, similar admissions profiles, higher reported earnings at similar cost, lower reported cost with similar earnings and options in the same state or region. The similar-schools brief keeps these questions in separate groups, with related institutional profiles shown as another comparison.

Each group has its own candidate list and ordering. A high position within one group is not a rank against all the schools in the other groups, and a school can appear more than once for different reasons. Check the source definition and earnings period for the comparison you choose.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with UCF.

Admissions peerRollins College47.5% admitted
Comparison with UCF
MeasureUCFRollins College
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,355$65,488+$4,133 vs UCF
Average annual net price$10,411$34,732+$24,321 vs UCF · higher cost
Admission rate40.1%47.5%
Explore Rollins College →
Higher-admission alternativeSaint Leo University78.4% admitted
Comparison with UCF
MeasureUCFSaint Leo University
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,355$58,644-$2,711 vs UCF
Average annual net price$10,411$21,293+$10,882 vs UCF · higher cost
Admission rate40.1%78.4%
Nearby alternativeThe University of TampaNearby option · FL
Comparison with UCF
MeasureUCFThe University of Tampa
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,355$62,720+$1,365 vs UCF
Average annual net price$10,411$36,211+$25,800 vs UCF · higher cost
Admission rate40.1%40.3%
Explore The University of Tampa →
Higher-earnings alternativeNew Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology$85,232 earnings
Comparison with UCF
MeasureUCFNew Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,355$85,232+$23,877 vs UCF
Average annual net price$10,411$9,873-$538 vs UCF · lower cost
Admission rate40.1%44.5%
Explore New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology →
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Brooklyn College$3,103 average net price
Comparison with UCF
MeasureUCFCUNY Brooklyn College
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,355$62,833+$1,478 vs UCF
Average annual net price$10,411$3,103-$7,308 vs UCF · lower cost
Admission rate40.1%58.4%
Explore CUNY Brooklyn College →
Similar profileFlorida International UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with UCF
MeasureUCFFlorida International University
Peer earnings · 4 years$61,355$62,192+$837 vs UCF
Average annual net price$10,411$9,288-$1,123 vs UCF · lower cost
Admission rate40.1%54.7%
Explore Florida International University →

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 is 150% of the federal poverty guideline for one person, for the year the API serves. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. The parent table is the 10-year payment on the median Parent PLUS as a share of household income above 200% of the guideline for a household of three: under 6% Safe, 6–10% Caution, over 10% High pressure. 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