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Northern Michigan University Comprehensive Profile

30 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
84% Acceptance Rate

Get the facts about Northern Michigan University. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more.

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* Rankings

How Does Northern Michigan University Stack Up?

#1,249 Best Colleges in Nation
#30 Best Colleges in MI
Northern Michigan University ranking badge

2026 Best Colleges Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Northern Michigan University was awarded 30 badges in the 2026 rankings.

National Standing

According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, Northern Michigan University is ranked #1,249 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.

Within the state, Northern Michigan University holds the #30 spot on the Best Colleges in Michigan ranking.

See all of the rankings for Northern Michigan University.

How Difficult Is Admission to Northern Michigan University?

84% Acceptance Rate
85% Of Accepted Are Women

Getting Accepted

Northern Michigan University has an acceptance rate of 84%, 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.

Learn more about Northern Michigan University admissions.

Instructors at Northern Michigan University

18 to 1 Student to Faculty
74% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

The student to faculty ratio at Northern Michigan University is about average at 18 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.

Full-Time Faculty Share

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 Northern Michigan University is 74%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  74 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Northern Michigan University

76% Freshmen Retention
51% On-Time Graduation Rate

First-Year Student Retention

The freshmen retention rate of 76% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Northern Michigan 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.

Freshmen Retention Rate  76 out of 100
0
100

Academic Completion

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Northern Michigan University for first-time, full-time students is 51%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  51 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Northern Michigan University.

Student Demographics at Northern Michigan University

6,425 Undergraduate Students
12.5% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
60.6% Percent Women

In the current academic year, there are 6,425 undergraduates at Northern Michigan University.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Northern Michigan University.

What Does Northern Michigan University Cost?

$16,772 Net Price
46% Take Out Loans
$24,564 Total Student Loans

The overall average net price of Northern Michigan University is $16,772. 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 Northern Michigan University

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$9,098 $11,494 $15,948 $20,616 $22,762

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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Northern Michigan University, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Northern Michigan University, approximately 46% of students took out student loans averaging $6,141 a year. That adds up to $24,564 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 10.8%. This is about the same as the national default rate of 10.1%. Get more details about paying for Northern Michigan University.

Post-Graduation Earnings for Northern Michigan University

$47,107 Avg Salary of Grads
Average Earnings Boost

The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Northern Michigan University make about $47,107 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is in the same neighborhood of the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. However, certain majors may produce higher-paying graduates.

See which majors at Northern Michigan University make the most money.

Location of Northern Michigan University

Michigan State
6,425 Undergraduate Students
Town Campus Setting

Northern Michigan University is a public institution found in Marquette, Michigan. Marquette is a great place for students who enjoy small town life. Get more details about the location of Northern Michigan University.

Location of Northern Michigan University

Contact information for Northern Michigan University are listed below.

Contact Details
Address: 1401 Presque Isle Avenue, Marquette, MI 49855-5301
Phone: 9062271000
Website: www.nmu.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NorthernMichiganU
Twitter: twitter.com/NorthernMichU

Northern Michigan University Academic Programs

32 Majors With Completions
3,520 Undergraduate Degrees

During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 32 majors graduated from Northern Michigan University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 1,760 NA
Nursing 113 $57,371
General Biology 109 $24,325
Liberal Arts General Studies 101 $14,693
Business Administration & Management 84 $30,483
Teacher Education Subject Specific 78 $32,446
General Psychology 77 $30,831
Criminal Justice & Corrections 67 $35,823
Natural Resources Conservation 65 $24,055
Social Work 55 $30,522

Learn more about the majors offered at Northern Michigan University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Distance Learning at Northern Michigan University

32% Take At Least One Class Online
8% Take All Classes Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

2,071 students took at least one online class at Northern Michigan University.

Learn more about online learning at Northern Michigan University.

Comparable CollegesWant to see how other colleges compare to Northern Michigan University? Match them up using College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.

References and Footnotes

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

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