Last month, the Department of Education (ED) released updates to the College Scorecard. The College Scorecard is a tool launched by the U.S. Department of Education to help students make informed decisions about their education options after high school. Previously, the Scorecard displayed only median earnings and median debt at the institutional level. The most recent update allows students to access information on the median earnings of a school’s graduates, based on their chosen field of study.
“Every student is unique,” said Secretary DeVos. “What they study, as well as when, where, and how they chose to pursue their education will impact their future. Students know this instinctively. That’s why we worked to deliver a product that is customizable and transparent—a tool that provides real information students need to make informed, personalized decisions about their education. The Scorecard also ensures students can make apples-to-apples comparisons by providing the same data about all of the programs a student might be considering without regard to the type of school.”
The Scorecard builds upon prior updates to include all students, including transfer and part-time student data, to provide comprehensive data on graduation rates. In May 2019, ED expanded the College Scorecard to include information on 2,100 certificate-granting institutions. With the recent redesign of the College Scorecard, students can now find customized, accessible, and relevant data on potential debt and earnings based on fields of study, graduation rates, and acceptance rates. Students and their parents can also search for schools by acceptance rate, ACT/SAT scores, and location, including a “close to me” feature.
While these updates provide more information in the College Scorecard, there are some limitations with the data provided. Specific to the field of study update, the Scorecard does not necessarily include all programs. It lacks sufficient information on graduate and professional degree programs and excludes academic programs with few students. The categorization of programs is based on the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP), which could generalize programs and classify programs under a generic umbrella. For example, History at the four-digit CIP level includes nine concentrations, including American, European, Asian, Canadian and military history – all of which could be separate majors at a given college. According to Third Way’s Michael Itzkowitz, the data set includes only about 20% of all programs.
In relation to the College Scorecard earning information, one of the biggest limitations is the focus on the income of graduates after the first year in the workforce. It does not provide information after several years or throughout the lifetime. In addition, the data sample of students is different depending on the topic. Earnings data came from students graduating in 2015 and 2016 while debt data came from students who graduated in 2016 and 2017. The data also does not include students who aren’t earning any income in their first year after graduation or who attended a school but did not finish.
In 2020, College Scorecard will continue to expand and address the remaining data metrics described in the Executive Order and will continue to update earnings information to include post-completion earnings measured further out from graduation as more data become available over time. Explore the updates on the College Scorecard at https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/.
Sources:
The Hill: New College Scorecard still has madness in its method
Forbes: Six Caveats When Using The College Scorecard’s New Program Of Study Data
EducationDive: Ed Dept makes student debt, earnings data searchable by program
Secretary DeVos Delivers on Promise to Provide Students Relevant, Actionable Information Needed to Make Personalized Education Decisions
IFAP Announcement: College Scorecard Metrics by Field of Study