Ferris State University Data & Information Overview
Find out more about how Ferris State University ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below. If you’re interested in learning more about a particular stat, just click on its tile to go to a new page that covers the topic more in-depth. Also, you can jump to any section of this page by clicking one of the links below.- Rankings
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
How Well Is Ferris State University Ranked?
2022 Rankings
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
Ferris State University was awarded 1,026 badges in the 2022 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is surveying engineering.
Overall Quality
College Factual ranked Ferris as #762 out of 2,576 colleges and universities in the country on its 2022 Best Colleges list.
Ferris also holds the #15 spot on the Best Colleges in Michigan ranking.
See all of the rankings for Ferris State University.
Is It Hard to Get Into Ferris?
Acceptance Rate
Ferris State University has an acceptance rate of 82%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it's not the only school you apply to, even if it's your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.
Average Test Scores
About 93% of students accepted to Ferris submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 470 and 580. Math scores were between 470 and 580.
Learn more about Ferris State University admissions.
Ferris State University Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
The student to faculty ratio at Ferris State University is about average at 15 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.
Percent of Full-Time Faculty
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Ferris State University is 70%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at Ferris State University
Freshmen Retention Rate
Ferris State University has a freshmen retention rate of 79%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
Graduation Rate
The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor's degree with four years. At Ferris this rate is 30%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Ferris State University.
Ferris State University Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 9,929 undergraduates at Ferris with 7,127 being full-time and 2,802 being part-time.
How Much Does Ferris State University Cost?
The overall average net price of Ferris is $12,889. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.Net Price by Income Group for Ferris
$0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
---|---|---|---|---|
$7,207 | $10,521 | $14,101 | $17,132 | $19,266 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Ferris, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Student Loan Debt
It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Ferris, approximately 67% of students took out student loans averaging $7,608 a year. That adds up to $30,432 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Ferris is 7.2%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you'll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans.
Get more details about paying for Ferris State University.
How Much Money Do Ferris Graduates Make?
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from Ferris make around $44,500 per year during the early years of their employment. That's great news for Ferris students since it is 12% more than the average college graduate's salary of $39,802 per year.
See which majors at Ferris State University make the most money.
Location of Ferris State University
Located in Big Rapids, Michigan, Ferris State University is a public institution. The surrounding location of Big Rapids is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town.Get more details about the location of Ferris State University.

Contact details for Ferris are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 1201 S State St, Big Rapids, MI 49307-2251 |
Phone: | 231-591-2000 |
Website: | www.ferris.edu/ |
Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/FerrisState |
Twitter: | https://twitter.com/FerrisState |
Ferris State University Majors
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 75 majors graduated from Ferris State University. Of these students, 2,852 received undergraduate degrees and 349 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
---|---|---|
Criminal Justice & Corrections | 288 | $39,669 |
Business Administration & Management | 257 | $46,217 |
Nursing | 160 | $61,263 |
Industrial Production Technology | 128 | $74,173 |
Mechanical Engineering Technology | 93 | $68,033 |
General Biology | 79 | $24,863 |
Design & Applied Arts | 73 | $38,018 |
Social Work | 67 | $31,795 |
Graphic Communications | 61 | $40,647 |
Construction Management | 60 | $62,192 |
Online Learning at Ferris
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
In 2019-2020, 9,093 students took at least one online class at Ferris State University. This is an increase from the 3,610 students who took online classes the previous year.
Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
---|---|---|
2019-2020 | 9,093 | 2,908 |
2018-2019 | 3,610 | 1,205 |
2017-2018 | 3,706 | 1,276 |
2016-2017 | 3,455 | 1,305 |
2015-2016 | 3,558 | 1,366 |
Learn more about online learning at Ferris State University.
Find Out More About Ferris State University
Notes and References
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By Michael Barera under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.