What are the best colleges and universities in Michigan if you reward schools for making the best use of their limited resources? Academic Stewardship asks how effectively schools manage their financial and human resources to gain the influence that makes them academically excellent. Schools that are exemplary in Academic Stewardship are doing everything in their power to help students and faculty achieve their full potential.
Colleges and universities in Michigan deserve to be recognized when they do more with less. It’s impressive when a large wealthy school can spend money lavishly on expensive buildings and programs. But it’s even more impressive when a small school with limited means is able to train and inspire students that the larger wealthier schools tend to ignore.
The American Association of Colleges and Universities reported in late 2021 that almost 75 percent of higher-education professionals at US colleges and universities felt financial constraints prevented their schools from effectively attracting students. Distracted by the size and amenities of larger schools, prospective students tended especially to be overawed by the big research universities.
Michigan’s smaller colleges, especially its liberal arts colleges, need effective ways of communicating their value to a world that celebrates “bigger is better” and “you need the best.” Unfortunately, most college ranking companies, such as U.S. News & World Report, define “best” in a way that devalues schools with smaller budgets and fewer students even when these schools do remarkable work in advancing their students’ education. By and large, college rankings penalize schools that serve underserved populations.
Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell, who for years now has criticized conventional college rankings for misrepresenting what’s good and valuable in education, we decided to construct a new ranking metric that highlights those schools that do more with less. That metric—called the Academic Stewardship metric—takes away both the size and the wealth advantage of schools, and focuses instead on how well schools use the resources available to them to advance the education of their students.
As a metric, Academic Stewardship is defined by a precise mathematical formula, which can be found in our Academic Stewardship white paper. Measuring the Academic Stewardship of Michigan’s colleges requires measuring two forms of stewardship: 1) Stewardship of financial resources (using the money they have responsibility without waste) and 2) Stewardship of human resources (doing their best to help students, faculty, and administration to flourish). Together, these two types of stewardship form what we call Academic Stewardship. If you want to learn more about the factors involved in Academic Stewardship, click the more button below.
Academic Stewardship as so defined is connected to keeping tuition and other costs down, but it should not be confused with affordability or frugality. The schools that this metric ranks as exemplary academic stewards tend to be all over the map when it comes to tuition and other costs. At issue is the influence of schools given the financial and human resources they have on hand. If a school is going to charge more for tuition, then that needs to be reflected in the school having proportionately greater influence.
The benefits of attending a school with strong academic stewardship include:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
49%
Student body
<1K
Olivet College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
68%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/24
Albion College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
79%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1270/28
Kalamazoo College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
54%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1030/21
Adrian College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
49%
Graduation
61%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/25
Andrews University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$44K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
67%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/27
Kettering University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$44K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
71%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
Alma College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
76%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/26
Hope College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
75%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/27
Calvin University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
60%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/24
Lawrence Technological University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$30K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
73%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
University of Detroit Mercy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
47%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/23
Northern Michigan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$18K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
72%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1270/27
Michigan Technological University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
47%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/22
Eastern Michigan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
52%
Student body
20K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/24
Wayne State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
57%
Student body
18K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/22
Western Michigan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
50%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/21
Ferris State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
56%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/23
Oakland University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
64%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/23
Central Michigan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$17K
Acceptance
26%
Graduation
93%
Student body
45K
Median SAT/ACT
1435/32
University of Michigan’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
69%
Student body
22K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/24
Grand Valley State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
81%
Student body
44K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/26
Michigan State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Graduation
21%
Student body
2K
Lake Michigan College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
65%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1097/23
Spring Arbor University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
38%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/23
University of Michigan–Flint’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
With over 80 public and private colleges to choose from, students hoping to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree can find a program that suits their educational needs and budget. Michigan State University and the University of Michigan are the two largest schools, both serving around 42,000 students and costing $16,000 in tuition. Most of the schools in The Wolverine State, however, serve smaller student populations, with tuition fees ranging from $3,000 to $49,000.
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Additionally, students pursuing their degree at a school with religious affiliations have more than 20 options to choose from, including Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Grand Rapid’s Calvin College, and Hope College in Holland. Students attending one of Michigan’s private schools, like Davenport University, can earn their degrees in fields like nursing, education, criminal justice, and history. Michigan, like many other states, also provides a special loan forgiveness program to those in medical, dental, and mental health professions who work in underserved communities. Recipients can receive up to $200,000 of tax-free funds over an eight-year period.
The great state of Michigan famously serves as the major hub of the United States auto industry - and also boasts the longest freshwater coastline in the nation. Students who love the outdoors but are also drawn to the metropolitan energy of big cities like Detroit and Grand Rapids will feel very much at home in Michigan.
To find your degree program, explore some of the top schools in Michigan.