College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

University of North Florida

FLLarge public institution · Overall rank #158 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth ranks University of North Florida #158 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

The University of North Florida is a public university in Jacksonville whose strongest is affordability, which is among the highest we track. The degree mix is led by Business and Health Professions, and most graduates are estimated to go into work rather than further study.

Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them. The model attributes an addition to the factors it measures and a subtraction to the remainder it cannot explain.

The shortfall is not explained by the measured factors alone. Affordability is among the highest we track, and access is well above average.

Pell students complete below the overall rate, and mobility is among the highest we track. The admission rate is below the median for comparable institutions, and the largest programs are not the best-paid ones.

A student drawn to psychology or health sciences should know that the highest earnings come from smaller engineering and construction programs.

University of North Florida at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
53.2%
Six-year completion[2]
69.2%
Four-year earnings[3]
$59,418

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$10,000
Median student debt[4]
$15,531
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$13,835

University of North Florida rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

University of North Florida is a public university in Jacksonville, Florida, enrolling 13,359 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the upper reaches of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (89th percentile).

University of North Florida admits 53.2% of applicants, against a median of 78.1% for comparable institutions of the same type and size. Among full-time first-year students, 84.7% continue into the second year and 69.2% earn a degree within six years.

The medians for comparable institutions are 83.1% and 65.0%. An estimated 44.0% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the six-year graduation rate, which counts only first-time, full-time students, excludes a large share of the student body.

Affordability is the strongest pillar (95th percentile) and return is the weakest (30th percentile). Mobility and access sit close together between them (90th and 89th percentiles).

The four pillars are spread wide, with three clustered at the high end of nonprofit four-year institutions and one far below.

Azimuth ranks the university's affordability pillar in the 95th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, making it the strongest of the four. Mobility and access are close behind, in the 90th and 89th percentiles respectively.

Return is the weakest pillar, in the 30th percentile. The shape is a public university where cost and access are strong, while the return pillar sits lower.

30.8% of undergraduates at University of North Florida receive Pell Grants. The university is a public university in Jacksonville, Florida.

Those Pell students complete at 60.8%, which is 8.4 percentage points below the overall six-year graduation rate (69.2%). Azimuth ranks the university #163 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Azimuth ranks University of North Florida #146 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $6,121 less than the model expects for similar students.

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

University of North Florida rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#158

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 90
Access & reach
National percentile: 89
Affordability
National percentile: 95
Return on investment
National percentile: 30

Top-ranked majors

  1. Construction Engineering Technology/Technician#13
  2. Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, General#18
  3. Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services#19

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 / University of North Florida briefing

University of North Florida cost & financial aid[6][7]

Affordability is the strongest pillar in the University of North Florida's Azimuth profile, and the numbers show why. The university publishes a federal cost of attendance of $20,983, with in-state tuition at $6,389 and room and board at $11,810.

Out-of-state tuition is $20,793. After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients is $10,154, a savings of $10,829 against the sticker total.

That sits below the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $5,480. Azimuth ranks the university #71 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Aid covers about 52% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, and the net price stays low across income bands. A low net price and a strong affordability rank point the same way: the University of North Florida delivers one of the more cost-conscious public options in its peer group.

The published cost of attendance at University of North Florida is $20,983. Azimuth ranks the university #71 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $6,647 for families earning under $30,000, $10,000 for those earning $48,001 to $75,000, and $17,730 for those earning over $110,000. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $11,083.

Aid saves the average recipient $10,829 against the sticker price. The average net price across all aid recipients is $10,154, which is $5,480 below the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

About 75.6% of federal aid recipients take federal loans. Borrowers who finish carry a median of $15,531 in federal student loans, which is $4,545 below the peer median of $20,076 for comparable institutions.

Parents who borrow hold a separate median of $13,835 in Parent PLUS loans. If repaid over ten years, the median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $177 a month.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$10,000

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at University of North Florida

The median federal debt for University of North Florida completers who borrowed is $15,531. That level is below the $20,076 median for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $4,545.

Federal loans reach 75.6% of federal aid recipients, which means that most undergraduates take on some federal obligation. Parent borrowers are a distinct group, and their median Parent PLUS debt stands at $13,835.

The return picture at University of North Florida is mixed. Graduates earn a median of $59,418 four years after completion, which is below the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $6,192.

That median sits in the 49th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $6,121 less than the model expects for similar students, an outcome in the 31st percentile nationally.

Earnings scenarios derived from the university's program mix show a downside scenario of $45,972 and an upside scenario of $81,347. The median federal student debt at completion is $15,531, which is below the $20,076 peer median by $4,545.

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $177 a month if repaid over ten years. Earnings trail both the peer median and the model's expectation.

The debt load is lighter than peers'. These point in different directions for a prospective student weighing cost against return.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $13,835. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $177.

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

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$15,531
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$13,835

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$177/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$176/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 / University of North Florida briefing

University of North Florida career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

Return is the weakest pillar at University of North Florida, a public university whose strongest scores are in affordability and mobility. Azimuth places the return pillar in the 30th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $6,121 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 31st percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $8,677.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $14,798. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,188.

Four years after completion, completers earn a median of $59,418, in the 49th percentile nationally. That figure sits below the peer median of $65,610 for comparable institutions (same type and size), a gap of $6,192.

Earnings that trail both the model and the peer median point to a return picture that lags on both measures.

The University of North Florida delivers a mixed earnings picture. Graduates four years after completion earn a median of $59,418, placing the university in the 49th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

That figure sits below the median of $65,610 for comparable institutions (same type and size). The earnings cohort includes 3,506 completers.

Graduates earn about $6,121 less than the model expects for similar students, a result that places the university in the 31st percentile nationally. Earnings scenarios anchored on the university's program mix show a typical outcome at the same level as the observed median.

The downside earnings scenario is $45,972 and the upside scenario reaches $81,347. An estimated 28.9% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix.

The spread between the downside and upside scenarios shows the variation in earnings across the university's 39 programs with published data four years after completion.

Four years after completion, graduates of the University of North Florida earn a median of $59,418, in the 49th percentile. That figure sits below the peer median of $65,610 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $6,192.

Graduates earn about $6,121 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 31st percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $8,677.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $14,798. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,188.

Azimuth ranks the university #1,025 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix show a downside of $45,972 and an upside of $81,347.

The largest program, Research and Experimental Psychology, awarded 306 degrees and shows median earnings of $45,521, earning a national rank of #39 from Azimuth. Nursing is the highest-earning large program, with 214 degrees awarded and a median of $79,454.

The highest-earning programs overall include Construction Engineering Technology/Technician at $94,692 with 80 degrees awarded, and Electrical Engineering at $90,944. The return picture is mixed: the university's strongest earnings sit in engineering and computing fields, but the two largest programs by degrees awarded earn below the institutional median.

Earnings four years after completion vary widely by field at the University of North Florida, a pattern that shows up in the earnings scenarios: a downside of $45,972, a typical scenario of $59,418, and an upside of $81,347. At the top of the range, Construction Engineering Technology/Technician graduates earn a median of $94,692, Electrical Engineering graduates earn $90,944, and Mechanical Engineering graduates earn $85,995.

The university's largest program, Research and Experimental Psychology, sits near the downside at $45,521.

The University of North Florida pairs below-expected earnings with a relatively light debt load. The median federal student debt for borrowers who complete a degree is $15,531, which runs below the median of $20,076 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

If repaid over ten years, that debt corresponds to an estimated monthly payment of $177. The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $10,154, which is below the median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Parent PLUS borrowers, a separate population, carry a median of $13,835. A low net price and below-median debt point in the same direction, even as earnings run below the model's expectation.

The net price spread across income bands runs from $6,647 for families earning under $30,000 to $17,730 for families earning over $110,000.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$8,677
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$14,798
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$6,121

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 / University of North Florida briefing

University of North Florida acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

The University of North Florida admits 53.2% of applicants, a rate well below the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 21,778 applicants, 11,594 admitted students, and 1,908 enrolled first-year students.

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
53.2%
25th percentile
1070
Median
1180
75th percentile
1260

CDS 2024-25 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / University of North Florida briefing

What are the largest majors at University of North Florida?[12]

The University of North Florida awards bachelor's degrees across 39 fields with published four-year earnings, and Azimuth ranks 30 of them nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions. The highest-earning program, Construction Engineering Technology/Technician, shows a median of $94,692 four years after completion, with 80 degrees awarded.

Electrical Engineering follows at $90,944 on 37 degrees awarded. Nursing reaches $79,454 on 214 degrees awarded, while Research and Experimental Psychology sits at $45,521 with 306 degrees awarded and an Azimuth national rank of #39.

Communication and Media Studies reports $54,360 and ranks #112 nationally on 211 degrees awarded.

The university publishes earnings data for 39 bachelor's programs, and 30 of them hold an Azimuth national rank. The largest program, Research and Experimental Psychology, awarded 306 degrees and ranks #39 nationally, with a median of $45,521 four years after completion.

Nursing is the highest-earning large program, awarding 214 degrees and showing a median of $79,454. Among the best-ranked programs, Construction Engineering Technology/Technician holds a national rank of #13 with 80 degrees awarded.

Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services ranks #19 nationally, awarded 53 degrees, and reports a median of $54,952.

The University of North Florida awards bachelor's degrees across 30 programs with an Azimuth national rank and 39 with published four-year earnings data. The program mix is anchored by Business, which accounts for 18.6% of degrees awarded, and Health Professions at 18.4%.

The largest single programs are Research and Experimental Psychology at 306 degrees awarded, Health Sciences at 301, and Nursing at 214. The highest-ranked program is Construction Engineering Technology/Technician, which ranks #3 in Florida within its field.

The highest-earning program is a smaller one: Construction Engineering Technology/Technician graduates earn $94,692, from 80 degrees awarded. Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering follow, with medians of $90,944 and $85,995 from 37 and 67 degrees a year, respectively.

The pattern is one of concentrated strength in health and engineering fields, with the largest programs in psychology and health sciences sitting alongside a smaller, high-earning technical program. Across all fields, 17.2% of degrees awarded are in STEM.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Research and Experimental Psychology 306 degrees awarded
$45,521
Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General 301 degrees awarded
$53,540
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 214 degrees awarded
$79,454
Communication and Media Studies 211 degrees awarded
$54,360
Business Administration, Management and Operations 211 degrees awarded
$65,768
Biology, General 198 degrees awarded
$55,828

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 / University of North Florida briefing

How does University of North Florida serve students from different backgrounds?

For the first-time full-time cohort, the six-year graduation rate — the share completing a degree within six years — is 69.2%, and Pell recipients complete at 60.8%, below the overall rate by 8.4 percentage points. Graduates earn about $6,121 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 31st percentile; earnings beyond expectations capture the difference between actual graduate pay and the model's benchmark for similar students.

The mobility pillar sits in the 90th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, which contrasts with that earnings result.

The University of North Florida enrolls 13,359 undergraduates and admits 53.2% of applicants, a rate that sits well below the peer median of 78.1%—the midpoint among comparable public universities. Pell Grant recipients compose 30.8% of undergraduates, and an estimated 44.0% arrive as transfers or part-time students.

Azimuth places the university's access pillar in the 89th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The combination of a substantial Pell share, a high estimated transfer-in share, and an admission rate tighter than the peer median reflects a profile that serves a broad range of students.

06 / University of North Florida briefing

What colleges are similar to University of North Florida?[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 University of North Florida.

Admissions peerJacksonville University56.9% admitted
Comparison with University of North Florida
MeasureUniversity of North FloridaJacksonville University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,418$77,058+$17,640 vs University of North Florida
Average annual net price$10,154$25,180+$15,026 vs University of North Florida · higher cost
Admission rate53.2%56.9%
Higher-admission alternativeStetson University71.6% admitted
Comparison with University of North Florida
MeasureUniversity of North FloridaStetson University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,418$57,773-$1,645 vs University of North Florida
Average annual net price$10,154$19,372+$9,218 vs University of North Florida · higher cost
Admission rate53.2%71.6%
Explore Stetson University →
Nearby alternativeStetson UniversityNearby option · FL
Comparison with University of North Florida
MeasureUniversity of North FloridaStetson University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,418$57,773-$1,645 vs University of North Florida
Average annual net price$10,154$19,372+$9,218 vs University of North Florida · higher cost
Admission rate53.2%71.6%
Explore Stetson University →
Higher-earnings alternativeFlorida Polytechnic University$86,952 earnings
Comparison with University of North Florida
MeasureUniversity of North FloridaFlorida Polytechnic University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,418$86,952+$27,534 vs University of North Florida
Average annual net price$10,154$11,853+$1,699 vs University of North Florida · higher cost
Admission rate53.2%57.5%
Explore Florida Polytechnic University →
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Brooklyn College$3,103 average net price
Comparison with University of North Florida
MeasureUniversity of North FloridaCUNY Brooklyn College
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,418$62,833+$3,415 vs University of North Florida
Average annual net price$10,154$3,103-$7,051 vs University of North Florida · lower cost
Admission rate53.2%58.4%
Explore CUNY Brooklyn College →
Similar profileFlorida Gulf Coast UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with University of North Florida
MeasureUniversity of North FloridaFlorida Gulf Coast University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,418$59,369-$49 vs University of North Florida
Average annual net price$10,154$12,568+$2,414 vs University of North Florida · higher cost
Admission rate53.2%63.4%
Explore Florida Gulf Coast 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 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