A public R1 university in Cincinnati, OH, admitting 85.29% of applicants with the nation's oldest cooperative education program, a distinctive arts and design school (DAAP), and connections to Cincinnati's corporate and healthcare economy.
Cincinnati, Ohio
Thinking about University of Cincinnati-Main Campus, a college in Ohio where more students graduate in Health than anything else? The four things worth knowing are what it actually costs after aid, whether you would get in, whether students finish, and what they earn after they do.
The University of Cincinnati is a public R1 research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1819 as one of the oldest urban public universities in the United States. It enrolls approximately 29,882 undergraduates and 11,993 graduate students across thirteen colleges and schools, including the Carl H. Lindner College of Business, the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), the College of Medicine, the College of Law, the College of Nursing, and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Business, engineering, health sciences, design, and social sciences account for the largest shares of bachelor's degrees. The University of Cincinnati is accredited through the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). The University of Cincinnati is test-optional; submitting SAT or ACT scores is not required. The University of Cincinnati pioneered cooperative education (co-op) in 1906, a model in which students alternate semesters of full-time academic study with full-time paid work in their field, and it remains one of the largest co-op programs in the world.
Official website: uc.edu
UCD scores every college on four pillars: Outcomes, Value, Affordability, and Selectivity. Within peer group A (four-year selective institutions), the University of Cincinnati scores 63.65 overall, rated Fair. Outcomes (80.81) reflects a 74.96% six-year graduation rate and 85.54% first-year retention. Value scores 25.03, reflecting a net price of $25,648 relative to ten-year earnings of $54,810. Selectivity scores 53.89, reflecting an 85.29% admit rate. All scores use verified federal data only.
The University of Cincinnati admits 85.29% of applicants, making it among the more accessible urban public research universities. The University of Cincinnati is test-optional; submitting SAT or ACT scores is not required. UC uses its own application portal. The priority deadline for merit scholarship consideration is December 1; rolling admission continues through the summer. Ohio residents make up the majority of undergraduates. The DAAP (Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning) programs require portfolio review and have a more competitive and separate admission process.
Acceptance rate over the last five admission cycles. The trend tells you whether University of Cincinnati-Main Campus is getting harder, easier, or staying about the same.
The University of Cincinnati charges $13,976 in in-state tuition and $29,310 in out-of-state tuition, plus $13,564 in room and board, bringing the estimated in-state total cost of attendance to approximately $33,200 before aid. The average net price after all grants and scholarships is $25,648, among the higher rates in this peer group for a public university. For families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $17,974. For families earning between $30,001 and $48,000, the net price averages $18,092.
For families earning between $75,001 and $110,000, the net price averages $27,596. The endowment stands at approximately $1.85 billion (IPEDS), significant for a university of UC's size. The federal loan rate of 37.32% and median debt of $21,250 are among the higher rates in this peer group. The co-op program allows students to earn competitive salaries during work semesters, which offsets some educational costs for participating students.
The average hides a wide spread by household income, so it is worth estimating what a family at your income would actually pay before treating this as the price.
Published cost of attendance, the sticker price before grants and scholarships. Most students underestimate room & board and other expenses.
Application fee: $50 (one-time, due at submission)
Aid is need-based, so net price varies by family income. Here's what each bracket typically pays after grants and scholarships.
Cumulative federal-loan debt across the full borrowing distribution. The 10th and 90th percentiles bracket the typical range; the median sits in the middle.
Median federal-loan debt at graduation broken down by demographic. Each slice's size is proportional to the dollar amount that group typically borrows.
The University of Cincinnati completes a majority of students it enrolls. The six-year graduation rate is 74.96% for full-time, first-time bachelor's-seeking students, at the lower end of the peer range. First-year retention stands at 85.54%, below the peer average. The federal loan rate of 37.32% and median debt of $21,250 are higher than most peer institutions. Students in co-op programs may take longer than four years to complete their degrees due to the alternating academic-work semester structure, which can affect six-year graduation rate calculations while producing graduates with substantial professional experience.
Completion and earnings carry the most weight in this college's score, and how the UCD Score weighs each measure sets out exactly how they are combined.
University of Cincinnati graduates enter careers in engineering, business, healthcare, design, and the arts, primarily in the Cincinnati metropolitan area and the Midwest. Median earnings are $48,310 six years after first enrolling and $54,810 at ten years. At the ten-year mark, 78.55% of former students earn more than a typical high school graduate, which is among the lower rates in this peer group.
Cincinnati's economy is anchored by major corporate headquarters: Procter and Gamble, Kroger, Fifth Third Bank, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital are among the city's largest employers. The co-op program enables students to develop significant paid professional experience before graduating, which often accelerates their career trajectories beyond what the six-year earnings figure captures. DAAP (Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning) graduates work in product design, architecture, industrial design, and urban planning nationally and internationally.
Median annual earnings 6, 8, and 10 years after students first enrolled.
Mean annual earnings 10 years after entry, segmented by demographic. Reveals gaps the headline median can't show.
Median earnings for female grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Median earnings for male grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Earnings of grads from the bottom-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the middle-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the top-third of family incomes at entry.
Share of completer-cohort borrowers paying down at least $1 of principal at the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 7-year mark. Climbing rates show graduates settling into careers and managing debt; flat or declining rates are a warning.
The University of Cincinnati enrolls approximately 29,882 undergraduates on its main campus in Cincinnati, Ohio, a city of approximately 310,000 on the Ohio River at the border of Ohio and Kentucky. White students account for 68.97% of undergraduates; Black 9.18%, Hispanic 5.36%, and Asian 5.38%. Approximately 18.76% of undergraduates receive Pell grants, and 30.98% are first-generation college students.
Cincinnati's campus is a walkable urban campus in the Clifton neighborhood, adjacent to Uptown Cincinnati's hospitals, restaurants, and neighborhoods. The city has a significant German-American heritage, a vibrant arts scene (Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera), and major league sports (Bengals NFL, Reds MLB). Bearcats athletics compete in the Big 12 Conference.
Undergraduate student body composition reported to the US Department of Education.
Where students live, learn, and connect at University of Cincinnati-Main Campus. The campus setting, housing profile, and signals that shape day-to-day life here.
After that comes the national picture for Business graduates, which shows what the field pays across every college rather than just this one.
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus offers an extensive catalog of programs: 318 distinct programs across 28 majors. Below are its strongest majors, each with flagship programs and typical earnings. Open a major to explore it in depth, or browse the full program catalog.
The University of Cincinnati operates at a student-to-faculty ratio consistent with large public urban research universities. 57.20% of instruction is delivered by full-time faculty, among the lower rates in this peer group, reflecting the university's significant use of adjunct and part-time instructors, particularly in professional programs. Instructional spending per full-time equivalent student is $12,292 per year, below the peer average.
The endowment stands at approximately $1.85 billion, meaningful for a public urban university of this size. The co-op program has produced graduates who work at aerospace companies, pharmaceutical firms, and design studios nationally. The College of Medicine is a major academic medical center in Cincinnati, operating in partnership with UC Health and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, one of the nation's leading pediatric research hospitals.
2,311 instructional faculty across 6 ranks. The rank mix shows how many senior faculty are teaching versus contingent or junior staff, with average salary equated to a 9-month contract.
| Rank | Faculty Count | Share | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Professors | 608 | 26% | $137,834 |
| Associate Professors | 743 | 32% | $102,405 |
| Assistant Professors | 822 | 36% | $80,697 |
| Instructors | 135 | 6% | $38,201 |
| Lecturers | 2 | 0% | $18,300 |
| No Rank | 1 | 0% | — |
The University of Cincinnati's defining strengths are its pioneering and nationally recognized co-op program, the distinctive DAAP (Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning) school, Cincinnati's Fortune 500 corporate base (Procter and Gamble, Kroger), and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital research environment for health sciences students. UCD 63.65 Fair.
The considerations: the UCD score of 63.65 Fair reflects the net price of $25,648 being high relative to the ten-year earnings of $54,810; the 57.20% full-time faculty rate is below average; the 37.32% federal loan rate is among the higher rates in this peer group; first-year retention of 85.54% and the 74.96% six-year graduation rate are below peer averages; and the value score of 25.03 is the lowest in this peer group. Best fit for Ohio residents who specifically want to leverage the co-op program for professional experience in engineering, business, or healthcare, or for students drawn to the DAAP program's distinctive design and architecture education.
Read against a single profile these cut both ways, which is why it helps to put two colleges side by side on the same measures rather than judging one in isolation.
The questions below address what students and families most commonly search about University of Cincinnati: how the co-op program works, what DAAP is, how Cincinnati's corporate employer base connects to careers, and how the net price compares to Ohio's other major public universities.
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