Which Michigan finance program has the lowest debt?

Walsh College reports the lowest median federal debt, $14,012, with first-year pay of $58,735.

How much do finance graduates earn in Michigan?

The median across 16 Michigan finance bachelor's programs is $56,872 in the first year after graduating and $75,671 five years after.

How many finance bachelor's programs are in Michigan?

16 Michigan programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 16 of them also report federal debt.

Finance (Bachelor's) Programs in Michigan, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

16 programs report first-year pay
16 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Finance and Financial Management Services

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Michigan finance bachelor's program pays its graduates $56,872 in their first year, $3,499 more than the national median. Michigan State reports the highest first-year pay ($68,103), and Walsh College the lowest median debt ($14,012).

Median first-year pay$56,872National $53,373

Median pay after 5 years$75,671National $77,457

Median federal debt$24,072National $23,250

Debt-to-earnings43%National 44%

All 16 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Michigan StateEast Lansing · public	$68,103	$99,263	$23,250	34%
2	Oakland UniversityRochester Hills · public	$61,804	$91,917	$23,944	39%
3	Central Michigan UniversityMount Pleasant · public	$60,023	$77,035	$26,672	44%
4	Albion CollegeAlbion · private nonprofit	$59,926	Not reported	$24,979	42%
5	Walsh CollegeTroy · private nonprofit	$58,735	$72,848	$14,012	24%
6	UM-DearbornDearborn · public	$58,438	$84,575	$22,150	38%
7	Northern Michigan UniversityMarquette · public	$57,281	$68,536	$19,219	34%
8	Northwood UniversityMidland · private nonprofit	$56,940	$82,036	$23,250	41%
9	Wayne StateDetroit · public	$56,804	$73,338	$21,500	38%
10	Eastern Michigan UniversityYpsilanti · public	$53,843	$77,007	$25,847	48%
11	Grand Valley StateAllendale · public	$52,872	$74,838	$24,199	46%
12	Baker CollegeOwosso · private nonprofit	$51,325	$67,718	$31,822	62%
13	Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo · public	$50,787	$70,882	$26,031	51%
14	UM-FlintFlint · public	$49,650	$76,488	$25,930	52%
15	Davenport UniversityGrand Rapids · private nonprofit	$46,861	$57,608	$30,567	65%
16	Saginaw Valley StateUniversity Center · public	$46,284	$75,671	$21,250	46%

Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan finance program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Michigan medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 16 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to finance, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

General and Operations Managers

$99,530

Median pay in Michigan. 85,860 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 285,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $49,380Top 10%: $222,810

Financial Managers

$139,370

Median pay in Michigan. 22,490 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $80,280Top 10%: $258,480

Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

$73,480

Median pay in Michigan. 7,160 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 35,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $46,640Top 10%: $172,680

Financial and Investment Analysts

$95,420

Median pay in Michigan. 7,400 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $63,180Top 10%: $154,230

Common questions

Michigan State in East Lansing reports the highest median first-year pay, $68,103. Its median federal debt is $23,250.

Finance (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked407 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Michigan rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the finance bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024