Is University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Worth It?

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor gives you one of the strongest financial returns available at a public university. You leave with median debt under $20,000, and median earnings ten years out clear $83,000. A 93% graduation rate and near-perfect retention mean you are very likely to finish and start earning, which is where most college financial risk actually lives.

The payoff is heavily technical. Computer and information sciences graduates hit the top earnings at roughly $94,000 while carrying about the same debt as everyone else, so the return per dollar borrowed is excellent. Engineering tracks (electrical, computer, industrial) and business all land in the high $70,000s to low $80,000s. These sit inside Michigan's auto, tech, and manufacturing job market, which absorbs engineering and CS graduates directly. No bachelor-level earnings data is listed here for humanities or arts majors, so treat those returns as unknown, not guaranteed.

The main financial risk is the price gap by income. If your family earns over $110,000, you pay nearly $27,000 a year, more than five times what the lowest-income families pay. At that price, your major matters a lot: engineering and CS still pay it back quickly, but a lower-earning field makes the math tighter. Below $48,000 in family income, you pay around $5,000 a year, which turns almost any completed degree here into a strong deal.

This school fits you if you are heading into a technical or business field, especially if your family income keeps net price low. If you are set on a major with no listed earnings data and you fall in the top income tier, price out the full $27,000 a year before committing, because the return in those fields is not documented here.