Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Cleary University earns top honors in Michigan for its return on investment among private, non-profit schools.

According to the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, students who earn their bachelor’s degree in business from Cleary will earn an average of $1.1 million over their lifetime. That's almost $200,000 more than the school ranked second in the state.

Cleary also placed first in the state for earnings one year after graduation and 10 years after graduation.

"That means our students are able to get really good jobs without taking on a lot of debt," says Cleary President Alan Drimmer.

"If you spend a ton of money and then you can't pay your loans back, that's not good," he told WHMI News. "Our students are in the sweet spot where they're doing very nicely, particularly one or two years after graduation, but they're not carrying a lot of debt."

Drimmer went on to say Cleary students are armed with what the school calls The Cleary Mind attributes -- critical and creative thinking, problem solving, effective communication, entrepreneurship, persuasion and ethical leadership.

The school adds that small class sizes and personalized attention add to Cleary’s historical successful outcomes.

The FREOPP report estimates ROI - how much college increases lifetime earnings (subtracting the cost of tuition, fees, books, supplies and lost earnings while in school) - for 53,000 different degree and certificate programs.

Bachelor degree programs have a median ROI of $160,000. FREOPP listed Cleary’s ROI as $1,124,708.

In addition, Cleary bachelor’s degree graduates earn on average more than $67,000 one year post-graduation. The annual salary of the school listed second was almost $10,000 less one year post-graduation.

After 10 years, Cleary graduates earn an average of $94,000 a year, while students graduating from the school listed second earned $11,000 less annually.

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