Is Metropolitan State University of Denver Worth It?

Metropolitan State University of Denver gives you a solid financial return if you pick the right major, but the 29.9% graduation rate is the number that should worry you most. You keep your debt low here, and a mid-career salary that clears $50k against a net price under $15k a year is a workable trade. The problem is finishing. Fewer than three in ten students graduate, and 30% don't come back after the first year. A degree you never complete leaves you with debt and no bump in pay.

Your major decides everything at MSU Denver. Computer science pays $72,790 ten years out on under $20k of debt, the best deal on campus. Nursing follows at $62,922. The engineering technology programs pay in the high $50k to low $60k range, but they carry the highest debt on the list, close to $28k for civil engineering technology, so your net gain is thinner than the salary alone suggests. Management information systems rounds out the strong five.

The net price tiers reward lower-income families. If your family earns under $48k, you pay around $12k a year, and that stays flat across the bottom brackets. Once your family income crosses $75k, the price jumps to roughly $19k, and above $110k it hits $21,812. Middle and upper-income families lose most of the discount here.

This school fits you if you can get into and finish a CS, nursing, or engineering technology program and want to work in the Denver metro without heavy debt. Look elsewhere if you're unsure you'll finish or if you're drawn to a major outside the top-earning few. At a school where most students don't graduate, the payoff depends entirely on you being one who does.