by our College Data Analytics Team
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 151 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is health professions.
Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.
College Factual ranked Ferris as #565 out of 2,152 colleges and universities in the country on its 2025 Best Colleges list.
Ferris also holds the #13 spot on the Best Colleges in Michigan ranking.
Ferris State University has an acceptance rate of 88%, so it is easier to gain admission to this school than some others. Still, the admissions staff will examine your application closely to make sure you're a good fit for Ferris.
About 63% 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 460 and 580. Math scores were between 450 and 570.
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.
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 72%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 77% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Ferris State University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
When it comes to finishing their studies on time, those seeking a bachelor's degree from Ferris have a four-year graduation rate of 36%. This is comparable to the national average of 33.3%
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Ferris State University.
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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $6,265 | $9,491 | $14,121 | $18,154 | $20,728 |
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.
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 52% of students took out student loans averaging $7,868 a year. That adds up to $31,472 over four years for those students.
See which majors at Ferris State University make the most money.
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/ |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 337 | $44,897 |
| Business Administration & Management | 293 | $48,535 |
| Mechanical Engineering Technology | 159 | $66,747 |
| Nursing | 142 | $74,851 |
| Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences | 140 | NA |
| Industrial Production Technology | 136 | $78,820 |
| Social Work | 116 | $38,870 |
| Design & Applied Arts | 105 | $34,045 |
| Health & Medical Administrative Services | 104 | $44,371 |
| Graphic Communications | 91 | $30,059 |
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 2022-2023, 5,033 students took at least one online class at Ferris State University. This is an increase from the 4,763 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-2023 | 5,033 | 1,748 |
| 2021-2022 | 4,763 | 1,780 |
| 2020-2021 | 8,474 | 3,245 |
| 2018-2019 | 3,706 | 1,276 |
Learn more about online learning at Ferris State University.
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
More about our data sources and methodologies.