Spring Arbor University
Private College in Spring Arbor, MI. Six-year graduation rate 64%. Median 10-year earnings $51,732.
Students who entered Spring Arbor University land at a median of $51,732 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Six-year completion sits at 64%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Median debt at graduation is $26,375, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.9 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
At 52%, the acceptance rate makes Spring Arbor University a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. 2,527 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 17% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 4% 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 | 540–630 | 8 (4%) |
| SAT Math | 470–610 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Spring Arbor University →Academics
64% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. First-year retention is 77% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. A 25% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. At 12:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 990 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $21,067 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Net price varies modestly by income — $14,530 at $0–30k against $21,370 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Grant aid is widespread — 93% of students receive it, averaging $20,428. Most students borrow — 61% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 205 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 | $14,530 |
| $30–48k | $15,697 |
| $48–75k | $16,197 |
| $75–110k | $19,358 |
| $110k+ | $21,370 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 604 of these 990 students, totalling $4,205,882 — an average of $6,963 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Jackson 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)