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Ferris State University Data & Information Overview

423 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
85% Acceptance Rate
Get the facts about Ferris State University. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more.
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How Well Is Ferris State University Ranked?

#561 Best Colleges in Nation
#16 Best Colleges in MI
Mechanical Engineering/Mechanical Technology Highest Ranked Major
Value Badge

2024 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

Ferris State University was awarded 423 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is mechanical engineering/mechanical technology.

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Overall Quality

College Factual ranked Ferris as #561 out of 2,217 colleges and universities in the country on its 2024 Best Colleges list.

Ferris also holds the #16 spot on the Best Colleges in Michigan ranking.

See all of the rankings for Ferris State University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Ferris?

85% Acceptance Rate
62% Of Accepted Are Women
66% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Ferris State University has an acceptance rate of 85%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it's not the only school you apply to, even if it's your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.

Average Test Scores

About 66% of students accepted to Ferris submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 470 and 580. Math scores were between 460 and 570.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Ferris State University  ( 470 to 580 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Ferris State University  ( 460 to 570 )
200
800
Ferris received ACT scores from 5% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 19 and 26.

ACT Composite Scores for Ferris State University  ( 19 to 26 )
1
36

Learn more about Ferris State University admissions.

Ferris State University Faculty

15 to 1 Student to Faculty
69% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at Ferris State University is about average at 15 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Ferris State University is 69%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  69 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Ferris State University

77% Freshmen Retention
30% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 77% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Ferris State University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  77 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor's degree with four years. At Ferris this rate is 30%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  30 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Ferris State University.

Ferris State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

7,127 Full-Time Undergraduates
20.5% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
51.8% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 9,929 undergraduates at Ferris with 7,127 being full-time and 2,802 being part-time.

How Much Does Ferris State University Cost?

$12,213 Net Price
56% Take Out Loans
$30,204 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Ferris is $12,213. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Ferris

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$6,577 $9,859 $13,230 $16,753 $18,975

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Ferris, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Ferris, approximately 56% of students took out student loans averaging $7,551 a year. That adds up to $30,204 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Ferris is 5.3%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Ferris State University.

How Much Money Do Ferris Graduates Make?

$51,832 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from Ferris make about $51,832 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. That's great news for Ferris students since it is 22% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Ferris State University make the most money.

Location of Ferris State University

Michigan State
7,127 Full-Time Undergraduates
Town Campus Setting
Located in Big Rapids, Michigan, Ferris State University is a public institution. The surrounding location of Big Rapids is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town.

Get more details about the location of Ferris State University.

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Contact details for Ferris are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 1201 S State St, Big Rapids, MI 49307-2251
Phone: 231-591-2000
Website: www.ferris.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FerrisState
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FerrisState

Ferris State University Majors

75 Majors With Completions
2,830 Undergraduate Degrees
393 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 75 majors graduated from Ferris State University. Of these students, 2,830 received undergraduate degrees and 393 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Criminal Justice & Corrections 301 $37,995
Business Administration & Management 233 $42,911
Nursing 139 $61,037
Industrial Production Technology 108 $70,938
Design & Applied Arts 106 $31,519
Graphic Communications 84 $31,428
Mechanical Engineering Technology 77 $64,480
General Biology 76 $21,733
Liberal Arts General Studies 63 $32,578
Health & Medical Administrative Services 51 $37,413

Learn more about the majors offered at Ferris State University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Ferris

46% Take At Least One Class Online
17% Take All Classes Online

Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.

In 2020-2021, 4,763 students took at least one online class at Ferris State University. This is a decrease from the 8,474 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 4,763 1,780
2019-2020 8,474 3,245
2018-2019 3,610 1,205
2017-2018 3,706 1,276
2016-2017 3,455 1,305

Learn more about online learning at Ferris State University.

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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