James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA
800 South Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22807
540-568-6211

James Madison University is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The university is named after James Madison, the fourth President of the United States and the principal author of the United States Constitution. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the school was renamed Madison College in 1938 in honor of President Madison. The school became a university in 1977, when it merged with Harrisonburg Graduate School.

The university is organized into seven colleges: College of Arts and Letters, College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, College of Integrated Science and Engineering, College of Science and Mathematics, College of Visual and Performing Arts, and Graduate School. James Madison University offers bachelor's degrees in 97 fields, master's degrees in 77 fields, and doctoral degrees in 17 fields through its seven colleges.

The university is ranked 11th among public universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report. In addition, James Madison University was named the 5th most beautiful campus in America by Business Insider in 2012.



Quick Facts

Enrollment: 21594

Acceptance Rate: 80.49%

Type: Public, 4-year or above

Main Website: https://www.jmu.edu/

Financial Aid: https://www.jmu.edu/finaid

Annual Costs

Total Cost In-State On-Campus: $28780

Total Cost Out-State On-Campus: $45680

Return on Investment Rating

rating stars

The estimated cost for four years as an undergraduate at James Madison University is $112537.64. This includes the average cost of attendance for four years plus the interest on the average loan over a ten year repayment minus the average of grants and scholarships per student.

We then contrast this figure with average early-career and mid-career average incomes of graduates of four year programs at James Madison University. For graduates of James Madison University, we saw an average early-career income of $61700.00 and mid-career income of $111300.00. We then ranked the school's value based on how many years of mid-career income it takes to repay the educational costs.