University Overview

Goals

In 2024, the President’s Office of the University of Michigan announced a 10-year plan meant to guide the university towards its goal of becoming the defining public university. The Look to Michigan strategic vision aims to accomplish this through innovation and service to the common good, focusing on five impact areas: Life-Changing Education; Human Health and Well-Being; Democracy, Civic and Global Engagement; Energy, Climate Action, Sustainability and Environmental Equity; and Advanced Technology. To achieve this vision, U-M will make strategic investments across six core areas: Purpose-Driven Education and Student Experience; Research, Scholarship, Discovery, and Artificial Intelligence; Community Health Support, Prevention, and Performance; Arts & Creative Expression; Faculty and Staff Engagement and Experience; and Innovation, Partnerships, and Economic Development. U-M aims to harness its interdisciplinary excellence to make dramatic advancements in service to humanity by 2034.

Overview

The University of Michigan is guided by “a larger sense of purpose,” to borrow a phrase used by former U-M president, Harold Shapiro. His words referred to the university’s commitment to provide the educational programs that society demands, generate new knowledge for the benefit of all, and serve as a thoughtful critic of society so that it may continually better itself.

The U-M mission statement reinforces these ideals, which are to “serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.”

Founded in 1817 as the Catholepistemiad or University of Michigania, it was officially renamed in 1821 as the University of Michigan. Originally located in Detroit, the institution’s home moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. One of the original buildings on the Ann Arbor campus still stands and is the President’s house.

The first Ann Arbor classes were taught in 1841, at which point the U-M had two professors and six students. The first commencement took place in 1845 to recognize the graduation of eleven men. Women were first admitted in 1870.

The university has grown to include nineteen schools and colleges, covering the liberal arts and sciences as well as most professions. Student enrollment surpassed 1,000 by 1865, 10,000 in 1936, and 40,000 in 2006. The Fall 2025 enrollment of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students was 53,488. U-M provides campus housing to 9,215 undergraduate students across 17 residence halls.

Based on the November 2025 count, the U-M has 3,229 tenured and tenure-track faculty. Lecturers, clinical faculty, research professors, librarians, and archivists add 5,297 to the total academic staff. All other staff total 19,134. (Another 4,329 students have paid appointments as graduate student instructors and research assistants, individuals counted as students in chart 1.3).

The FY2024 operating revenues from the state appropriation, tuition, research grants and contracts, gifts and other sources reached $5.23 billion. The U-M Health System revenues added $8.02 billion for a combined total of $13.3 billion. According to the latest national data, in FY2023 the U-M spent $1.93 billion on research – second highest of any U.S. public university.

University Origins

The university has grown to include nineteen schools and colleges, covering the liberal arts and sciences as well as most professions.

1.1 School/College Origins

Student Enrollment History

Enrollment has more than doubled since the end of WWII, from 19,176 in 1946 to 53,488 in 2025.

   SOURCE: U-M Statistical Reference Book (1966); U-M Office of the Registrar.

An enrollment headcount based on a fall census is available starting in 1841 and continuing about every five years to 1929. The first class in 1841 consisted of six undergraduates. Graduate student enrollment began during the 1840s, and the first graduate degree (a Master of Arts) was conferred in 1849, followed by the first M.D. degree in 1851. Total enrollment is reported unless records provide an accurate accounting of the separate undergraduate and graduate student population.

The enrollment valley in the early 1940s followed by a rapid rise and peak in the late 1940s parallels the U.S. involvement in World War II followed by the war’s end and the passage of the GI Bill. The subsequent enrollment valley – reaching its low point in 1985 – synchronizes fairly closely with the end of the post-World War II Baby Boom’s prime college years.

Undergraduate enrollment has risen fairly steadily since 1960. Graduate and professional enrollment reached an initial peak in 1975 and returned to the 1975 level again in 2007.

   SOURCE: U-M Office of the Registrar.

University of Michigan undergraduate student enrollment has risen nearly every year since 1960. The Fall 2025 enrollment is 2.5 times larger than the Fall 1960 enrollment. The undergraduate increase from Fall 2024 is 904 students (+2.6%).

Graduate-professional student enrollment has not grown with the same consistency as that for undergraduates, although the current Fall enrollment is nearly twice as large as for Fall 1960. Fall 2025 graduate-professional enrollment decreased by 271 students compared to a year ago (-1.5%).

Campus Population

The university community includes 53,488 students and 8,526 faculty members.

   SOURCE: U-M Office of the Registrar; U-M Human Resources Data Sets

The total faculty count includes tenured & tenure-track faculty, lecturers, clinical faculty, research faculty and other academic appointments (not-on-track faculty, librarian, curator, archivist, adjunct and visiting faculty, adjunct and visiting research faculty, and emeritus faculty with active appointments). In this chart, the staff count includes regular staff, clinical interns and professional specialists. Students who also have supplemental staff appointments as graduate student instructors, graduate student research assistants, and graduate student staff assistants are included in student counts. More detailed breakdowns of faculty and staff appointments are included in Chapter 6.

The professional student count includes students enrolled in the Doctor of Medicine (MD), Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS), Juris Doctor (JD), Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs. The graduate student count includes all other graduate students. See Appendix C for details.

Degrees Awarded

Over 16,000 degrees were awarded in academic year 2025. U-M students go on to work in some of the top firms in the country and many stay in Michigan to become part of the state’s skilled workforce.

   SOURCE: University of Michigan Office of Financial Operations

According to data gathered by data and analytics engine Steppingblocks, many University of Michigan alumni go on to work at Fortune 500 companies after graduation, and many of them stay to work in Michigan. Additionally, U-M students graduate at some of the highest rates of any institution in the country. 82% of undergraduates graduate within 4 years, and 93% graduate within 6 years.

Undergraduate Student Borrowing

More than two-thirds of students who start at U-M as first-time college students graduate with no student loan debt, as of graduating year 2024.

   SOURCE: U-M Financial Aid Data

U-M has increased its commitment to providing institutional financial aid over the last decade, leading to less student loan debt for students upon graduation. In 2017 the university began offering the Go Blue Guarantee, a pledge to provide the full cost of tuition to admitted in-state students based on family income and assets. For Fall 2025, Michigan families with incomes $125,000 and under & assets below $125,000 qualify.

Inventions, Licensing, & Patent Activity

Since Fiscal Year 2016, U-M researchers have reported 5,183 inventions, have engaged in 2,539 licensing agreements, and have been issued 2,374 U.S. patents.

   SOURCE: U-M Innovation Partnerships

Invention reports are descriptions of discoveries made by U-M faculty, staff and students with the potential to be further developed into new products or processes. Patents protect intellectual property that shows some promise for future development and application. License and option agreements are legal arrangements with companies (some of which have U-M faculty involvement) that allow the firms to use university-owned technology in products or processes being developed for the market. Information about specific U-M innovations can be found on the Innovation Partnerships website.

Research Expenditures

The University of Michigan has the second-highest research output among US public universities. University research expenditures exceeded $2.03 billion in fiscal year 2024.

   Source: U-M Financial Operations

The University’s largest fraction of grant-supported work occurs in the biomedical and clinical sciences. The U-M Medical School alone regularly attracts more than $400 million each year in research grants. Federal agencies such as the NIH, Department of Energy, NASA, and Department of Defense fund these research efforts which lead to life-saving medical treatments, energy solutions, advanced space exploration and defense technologies. The Office of National Laboratories aims to support its partnerships with U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories.

U-M’s research output among US public universities is second only to the University of California – San Francisco. The research expenditures displayed in this chart include those for the Ann Arbor campus only. Note: Starting in FY2007, research support originating from the U-M faculty medical group practice was included as research expenditures. Previously this was reported with clinical activity.

Operating Revenues

Revenues for the U-M campus and U-M Health System combined increased by approximately $5 billion (58%) over the past decade. The state appropriation in inflation-adjusted dollars decreased by $5 million (1.4%) during the same period.

   Source: U-M Financial Operations

The total budget of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor is allocated to a wide range of activities, including instruction, research, administration, health care, student financial aid, student housing and athletics, among others. Tuition growth has stemmed primarily from increases in out-of-state and graduate program rates. “Net student tuition/fees” equals total tuition and fees minus student scholarships from the U-M for the fiscal year.