Is Oakland City University Worth It?

Oakland City University gives you a modest but manageable financial return. Median earnings ten years out sit close to what many bachelor's holders make nationally, and the median debt is low enough that you're unlikely to graduate deep in a hole. The 70% graduation rate means most people who start here finish, which lowers the risk of paying for a degree you never get.

The payoff depends heavily on your major. Criminal Justice is the clear winner, earning graduates well above the school's overall median and pairing with steady demand for corrections and law enforcement work in Indiana. Business Administration and Accounting land in solid mid-range territory. The education and physical education programs are where the math turns rough: graduates earn under $29,000, less than the annual net price for a higher-income family and barely above the school's own tuition burden. If you plan to teach and you're borrowing, run the numbers hard before you commit.

The specific risk here is the 68% retention rate. Nearly a third of first-year students don't return, and if you're one of them, you leave with debt and no degree. That's the outcome that wrecks ROI at a school like this.

The net price tiers reward lower-income families. If your household earns under $48,000, you pay roughly $9,000 a year, less than half of what families above $75,000 are charged. The jump to $22,171 for the $75-110k bracket is steep, so a middle-to-upper income family sees a weaker deal than a lower-income one.

This school fits you if you're low-income and heading into criminal justice, business, or accounting. Look elsewhere if you want to teach and need to borrow to do it.