Most Affordable Colleges in Michigan 2025

Badge for MOST AFFORDABLE COLLEGES IN MICHIGAN

By Dr. James Barham
Reviewed By Jenn Finley

Updated: Nov 19, 2024

Key Takeaways

Michigan provides so many study opportunities both for local and international students.
Michigan has a diverse group of colleges including technology and career preparation universities, small colleges, religious schools, and large state schools that support athletic rivalries.
Michigan has also a relatively lower cost of living than any other region across the US, thus making the state a perfect choice for those looking not only for affordable colleges, but also for a cheaper way of life.

Table of Contents

10 Most Affordable Colleges in Michigan 2025

University of Michigan
Michigan State University
Wayne State University
Western Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
+1
Oakland University
–1
Michigan Technological University
Central Michigan University
+1
Grand Valley State University
+1
Ferris State University
+1

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

The top 4 schools in our 2025 ranking of the most affordable colleges in Michigan remain unchanged between 2024 and 2025.

Ferris State University gained 1 position to move into the top 10.

Colleges and Universities in Michigan

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.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

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.

What are Michigan’s Colleges & Universities?

Michigan’s Best Overall

Michigan: Home to Quality, Inexpensive Colleges

You can find the best universities and colleges across Michigan and in cities like Grand Rapids, Detroit, Kalamazoo, Flint, and Ann Arbor. Michigan’s state capital, Lansing, is where you can find one of the biggest colleges in the US, Michigan State University, home to more than 37,000 undergraduates every year.

Michigan’s Top Cities for Higher Education

Lansing: This is Michigan’s state capital, and is the center for Michigan’s industry, government, commerce, education, and culture. Lansing is where you can find Michigan State University. The state is also home to two nursing schools, two medical schools, a veterinary school, and two law schools, including the Michigan State University College of Law. This city is also where the state capitol is located, as well as the state’s Supreme Court, a famous library, and a historical center.

Ann Arbor: The embodiment of a real college town, it is home to the University of Michigan. Here, students seem to practically run the city; from the school’s sporting events that turn the entire town into a bed of blue and maize, to the students’ sway over liberal political demographic and cheap but good places to drink and eat.

The University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus plays a crucial role in the town’s culture and heritage, as evidently seen by the Museum of Art and Museum of Natural History, which are both open and allow students to access for free.

Detroit: What was once the world’s wealthiest cities is now known as the gritty and industrial “Motor City.” Although no longer leading in the car manufacturing industry, Detroit still has its own charm—a city of urban culture, vibrancy, and sass. It also offers a rich cultural and arts scene, such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, found within the vicinity of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Funding Options for Michigan College Students

Scholarships: Scholarship awards can be as little as $25 or full-ride tuition and expenses for four years of college. Because of the overwhelming options, finding the right one is a challenge. Talk to your high school counselors first or go to the financial aid office of your college of choice. Some free websites to help you find scholarships include:

Grants: Similar to scholarships, grants are usually issued by government agencies, non-profit organizations, or colleges, and are awarded to qualified students based on their financial needs. Examples of grants available for college students in Michigan include:

Michigan Student Aid, which includes programs such as the Michigan Educational Opportunity Grant, Children of Veterans Tuition Grant, Michigan Tuition Grants, and the Tuition Incentive Program.
Grants, like the Pell Grant or the Academic Competitiveness Grant, are needs-based grants for low-income students. Students can apply for these federal grants by completing the federal financial aid form (FAFSA).
The federal Teach Grant program is for graduate and undergraduate students who wish to pursue a teaching career. This is also ideal for students who agree to teach in high-need fields or low-income areas for a given period of time after they graduate.
Grants for specific ethnic groups are also offered. These include grants for African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, Jewish Americans, Irish Americans, Native Americans, and Italian Americans. There are also grants for women, for people from a specific religious group, for first-generation college students, for high-needs fields, or for specialized fields like engineering, math, or science.

College Work Study Programs

There are types of study programs that pay a certain amount to students based on their financial needs as part of college-based, state, or financial aid packages. College work-study programs require students to work on campus or locally for a minimum wage.

How do we determine Michigan's best affordable colleges and universities?

Methodology

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence in their fields of study.

Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.

There are 21 colleges and universities in Michigan with stated tuitions and fees under $20,000/year. The following list of the most affordable colleges and universities in Michigan is composed entirely of schools offering bachelor’s degree programs, have stated tuition and fees near or under the national average of $16,000/year, and are fully accredited colleges.