FREOPP 2021 earnings · IPEDS 2023 cost · BEA 2023 cost-of-living · Michigan four-year schools, resident pricing · real-earnings-coverage only · every school shown is NPV-positive.

1 Kettering University · Flint · private +$4.99M
2 Michigan Technological University · Houghton · public +$4.23M
3 Lawrence Technological University · Southfield · private +$3.84M
4 Cleary University · Howell · private +$3.30M
5 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor · Ann Arbor · public +$2.84M
6 Walsh College · Troy · private +$2.38M
7 University of Michigan-Dearborn · Dearborn · public +$2.28M
8 Ferris State University · Big Rapids · public +$2.16M
9 University of Detroit Mercy · Detroit · private +$2.07M
10 Michigan State University · East Lansing · public +$2.02M
11 Davenport University · Grand Rapids · private +$1.73M
12 Oakland University · Rochester Hills · public +$1.70M
13 Northwood University · Midland · private +$1.67M
14 Andrews University · Berrien Springs · private +$1.65M
15 Wayne State University · Detroit · public +$1.61M

How this is computed (and what it isn’t)

For each school we run the /worth-it calculator with the home state set to Michigan — resident tuition, plus foregone wages, capitalized loan interest, and BEA cost-of-living on the skip-college path. The ranking is the 30-year projected net value of going vs. skipping and investing the difference. It ranks schools, not majors — and the major you pick swings that payoff by over a million dollars on its own.

What it isn’t: a list of “good schools.” It’s a list of good trades at resident pricing. Schools without real FREOPP earnings coverage are excluded rather than estimated; institutions whose earnings roll up from fewer than 3 reported programs are excluded as too thin to rank; schools verified closed since the IPEDS 2023-24 vintage are excluded by hand. Only NPV-positive schools are listed — the point is where the value is, not naming losers.