Education
UpdatedWhat a four-year college costs after aid, what its graduates earn ten years on, and what they owe: every predominantly bachelor’s-degree college in the U.S., from the Department of Education’s College Scorecard.
FairA typical graduate earns $58,912 a year, about 2.9 times a year's net price. For-profit colleges pay back least: $44,016 in earnings on a $32,090 price.
Watch: Debt: for-profit graduates leave with the most, $28,667 typical.
How each kind compares with the typical four-year college
- Public colleges' earnings▲+$597 +1.0%
- Private nonprofit colleges' earnings▲+$186 +0.3%
- For-profit colleges' earnings▼−$14,896 −25.3%
Every headline number4 readings with their changes
About the dataU.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard · CC BY 4.0
Colleges whose degrees are mostly bachelor’s degrees and that are still operating. Net price is the average yearly cost after grants and scholarships for students receiving federal aid; earnings are the median for former students ten years after they entered, whether or not they finished; debt is the median federal loan debt of those who completed. Small colleges’ figures can be withheld for privacy.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, licensed CC BY 4.0. Point75 shows the data as published, summarised and charted.
How the takeaway is decided
- Payback is a year's typical graduate earnings divided by a year's net price: over 3× is Strong, over 2× Fair, below that Weak.
The words and colours come from these rules, applied to the newest data on every update; they describe the data and are not advice.