Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 9.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 275 Title IV programs, 90 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 1 fails. 184 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing90 · 32.7%
- No Data184 · 66.9%
- Failing1 · 0.4%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Near the line (±5%)
Programs within five points of the pass line, one cohort year from flipping.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Higher Learning Commission
Programmatic accreditations · 26
Action history · 38
- Aug 2025Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: ProbationJoint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology · Radiologic Technology (RAD) - Programs for radiographers
- Jul 2025Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology · Clinical doctoral program in Audiology
- Jun 2025Renewal of AccreditationCouncil on Education for Public Health · Public Health Programs (PHPG) - Graduate level program offered outside a school of public health
- Aug 2024Warning or Equivalent-Factors Affecting Academic QualityAmerican Occupational Therapy Association, Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education · Occupational Therapy (OTM) - Programs leading to a Master's Degree
- May 2024Renewal of AccreditationCouncil on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs · Nurse Anesthesia (ANEST) - Institutions and programs at the master's degree, post master's certificate or doctoral degree levels
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 8,839 students received $52.0M in Pell grants, alongside $167.2M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 6,220 borrowers who entered repayment, 99 (1.5%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Wayne State
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 11
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- On campus25
- Non-campus3
- Public property10
Includes 8 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
- University Towers1 fireCookingDamage $0-$99
Data quality: 1 report was later determined unfounded across the reporting period and are excluded from the totals above.
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Wayne State vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Wayne State selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectWayne State University | 58% | — | 23,803 | $14,773 | R1 Research |
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | 93% | 15.6% | 52,855 | $14,832 | R1 Research |
Michigan State University | 81% | 84.8% | 52,089 | $20,751 | R1 Research |
Ohio University-Main Campus | 65% | 85.0% | 26,323 | $20,413 | R1 Research |
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | 53% | 90.7% | 22,450 | $16,177 | R1 Research |
Kent State University at Kent | 64% | 86.3% | 26,374 | $19,614 | R1 Research |
| Peer group median | 65% | 85.0% | 26,349 | $17,896 |
Frequently asked questions about Wayne State University
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Wayne State.
What is the graduation rate at Wayne State University?
How many students attend Wayne State University?
What is the average net price at Wayne State University?
What is the yield rate at Wayne State University?
Where is Wayne State University located?
Have a question this page can’t answer?
Ask Clema anything about Wayne State University and its peers — plain language in, cited answers out, in minutes instead of days.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card