Michigan State University
Public Research University in East Lansing, MI. Six-year graduation rate 81%. Median 10-year earnings $67,253.
Ten-year median earnings of $67,253 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 81% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $23,250 in debt — in line with the national norm.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.35 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 81% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Michigan State University accepts 85% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. With 62,138 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Only 18% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 39% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 590–680 | 3,746 (39%) |
| SAT Math | 590–680 | |
| ACT Composite | 25–31 | 651 (7%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Michigan State University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 81% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. First-year retention of 90% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. The part-time picture is harder: 65% return, against 90% full-time. At 17:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution. As a public four-year university, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 40,243 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $23,657 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The income table below is the number that matters — $7,068 at $0–30k versus $28,546 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 80% of students at an average of $9,829. 34% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 9,361 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $7,068 |
| $30–48k | $10,830 |
| $48–75k | $16,521 |
| $75–110k | $22,703 |
| $110k+ | $28,546 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 13,613 of these 40,243 students, totalling $85,871,543 — an average of $6,308 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Ingham County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)