Walking around Ann Arbor on a weekday morning is subtly impressive. Students travel between structures with architectural styles spanning two centuries. Before most people have finished their coffee, researchers are already in the labs. It’s hard to distinguish between the university and the city because they are so entwined. It’s not by accident that something has a sense of permanence, of being made to last. For more than 200 years, the University of Michigan has been doing this.
Michigan predates the state itself, having been founded in 1817. It started out as something called the Catholepistemiad, a term that roughly translates to “School of Universal Knowledge,” borrowed from Greek and Latin roots by the men who signed it into existence under Thomas Jefferson’s influence, rather than as the expansive research institution it is today. A single institution with control over all education in Michigan Territory was an ambitious concept for the time. The majority of organizations that began with that level of idealism failed to endure into the 19th century. In addition to surviving, Michigan grew.
Over 53,000 students from 19 schools and colleges are enrolled in the university today. It provides more than 280 degree programs, which are sufficiently diverse to allow two individuals to graduate from the same school with nearly no academic background in common. For a school this size, the student-faculty ratio of 15 to 1 is manageable, but anyone who has attended a large research university knows that the ratio and real classroom experience don’t always line up.
The research output is often overlooked in favor of the enrollment figures. According to the National Science Foundation, Michigan’s research expenditures in 2021 placed it third out of all American universities. That’s not a small difference. In recent years, the university has participated in studies of bird populations, wireless brain implants, and criminal exonerations through its Innocence Clinic. It’s difficult to identify this kind of range with a single campus until you look at what the location actually produces.
It’s worth taking a moment to consider the $21.2 billion endowment that was recorded in 2025. That number is startling for a public university. It provides funding for initiatives, research projects, and scholarships that would be impossible for a tuition-dependent institution to maintain. The cost of in-state tuition is roughly $19,497, which is affordable by today’s standards. The financial calculus becomes more difficult for families doing the math at kitchen tables when out-of-state students pay more than $66,000.
On a game day, Michigan Stadium, the biggest in the US and the third largest in the world, can accommodate over 100,000 spectators. Alumni speak of the atmosphere during a home football game with a certain reverence, as if they were speaking of a common religion. Athletes from the university won 185 Olympic medals, including 86 gold, between 1900 and 2022. Though it has never quite been able to overshadow the academic reputation, which is arguably Michigan’s most unusual accomplishment, the athletics program is by far one of the most decorated in American collegiate history.
With a 16% admission rate, Michigan is one of the nation’s most selective public universities. The typical admitted student has an ACT score between 31 and 34 and a high school GPA close to 3.9. The median salary for Michigan alumni six years after graduation is roughly $73,762, indicating that the degree translates fairly well once students leave Ann Arbor.
Since higher education is under pressure from a variety of sources, including cost concerns, questions about return on investment, and competition from online programs, it is still unclear whether any university can sustain this kind of standing indefinitely. At least Michigan appears to be aware of this. The institution appears to be active, as evidenced by the continuous investments in research and new academic programs. It’s unclear if that will be sufficient to last another 208 years. However, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that they haven’t made any major mistakes thus far.
