University of
Detroit Mercy
Private College in Detroit, MI. Six-year graduation rate 67%. Median 10-year earnings $71,030.
Ten-year median earnings of $71,030 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 67% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $23,250, neither a bargain nor a burden.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.33 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 75% puts University of Detroit Mercy on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. The applicant pool runs to 6,514, typical for a school of this reach. Yield is low at 13%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Score ranges below describe the middle half of score submitters among enrolled first-years; students who applied test-optional 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 | 520–630 | 329 (51%) |
| SAT Math | 510–630 | |
| ACT Composite | 22–28 | 39 (6%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of Detroit Mercy →Academics
A 67% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. First-year retention of 83% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. 23% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 68% return, against 83% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,287 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $16,790 annually once grants are applied. The income table below is the number that matters — $13,088 at $0–30k versus $21,691 at $110k+. 95% of students get grant aid averaging $22,227, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Federal borrowing reaches 38% of students.
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 · 527 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 | $13,088 |
| $30–48k | $11,290 |
| $48–75k | $14,173 |
| $75–110k | $15,584 |
| $110k+ | $21,691 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 870 of these 2,287 students, totalling $5,886,582 — an average of $6,766 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Wayne 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)