Ohio Northern University is ranked among the top schools in the nation and in the state of Ohio for its students’ tuition return on investment (ROI), according to the recently released 2014 PayScale College ROI Report.

ONU ranked third for private schools and sixth overall in the state of Ohio, along with institutions such as Case Western University, Miami University, University of Dayton and Denison University. Nationally, ONU placed 282nd (113th for private universities) out of 1,330 institutions nationwide.

ONU President Daniel A. DiBiasio said, “This report highlights ONU’s commitment to giving ONU students the best education and opportunity to excel after graduation. ONU has always been proud of its high placement rate for ONU graduates and that is an indication of how well prepared our students are after they receive their diplomas.”

ROI is a function of two things: how much students spend to earn a degree, and how much graduates earn. This high ROI ranking means that ONU graduates earn high starting salaries and are able to pay back student-loan debt.

Larry Lesick, ONU vice president for enrollment management, said “While we’re pleased to be ranked highly, it is a validation of the Ohio Northern Promise – high quality academic experiences at a reasonable cost that lead to good careers.”

PayScale used self-reported salary information collected through its online pay-comparison tools to determine how much graduates of each institution earned. It then determined how much graduates of each school earned (after deducting the cost of their degrees) above the typical pay for a high school graduate over the same period. Unlike most other rankings, PayScale takes into account each school’s six-year graduation rate, providing a more accurate way of assessing a school’s ROI.


Launched in 2002 and headquartered in Seattle, Wash., PayScale is a market leader in global online compensation data. With the world’s largest database of individual employee compensation profiles, PayScale provides an immediate and precise snapshot of the job market. Its patent-pending, real-time profiling system indexes custom employee attributes (such as industry-specific certifications) and specific job titles for every industry.