Updates to College Scorecard includes earnings info, but still lack program costs

This week, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) updated earnings data in the College Scorecard, a free online tool that provides key information about colleges and programs to prospective college students and their families, along with institutions, researchers, and policymakers. The updated metrics reflect median earnings for all students who earned a credential, including federal aid recipients four years after graduation. The Scorecard also now includes a comparison of graduates’ earnings to high school graduates nationally and within a state, and a field of study national median earnings metric to measure earnings across institutions.    

However, other crucial data elements were not updated. These include institution-level earnings measured ten years after entry, and institution- and program-level earnings outcomes one and five years after graduation, as well as earnings disaggregated by family income, gender, and dependency. For each of these earnings outcomes, the most recent data were measured in 2020 and 2021. Other data elements that measure post-college earnings of both completers and non-completers were not refreshed in this update. Finally, none of the various loan repayment rate measures or the debt-related data elements were updated in this release.  

The data that were updated will help students better understand their likely earnings after completing specific programs. But without program-level cost data, the Scorecard still provides an incomplete picture of outcomes.  

Program-level cost info exists, but remains unavailable

Colleges were required to report program-level cost and financial aid data to ED by October 1, 2025 as part of the Financial Value Transparency (FVT) framework. But these data have not been made public. When released, the FVT data will provide several key metrics for the first time, including program-level costs, debt, and earnings across all types of colleges. They will also cover the full range of credentials—certificates and degrees—at public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit colleges.  

The FVT data include program-level costs and financial aid, such as the tuition, fees, books, supplies, and equipment students would pay for the full length of that program, along with grant aid. This information would enable more precise net price calculation. Together, these measures would give students a clearer picture of their out-of-pocket costs for pursuing a particular educational pathway.  

Earnings alone cannot capture value. Students also need clear information about what they will pay. Without access to both, students are left to make high-stakes decisions with only partial information. For students making enrollment decisions in the coming months, delays in releasing these data mean missing critical information when it is most needed. The Department should release the FVT data as soon as possible, while ensuring data quality and, over time, integrating the data into the Scorecard. ED should also conduct consumer testing of the College Scorecard to ensure the data are clear, accessible, and useful for students, including the presentation of program-level data. 

Existing federal tools are not enough

Program-level information is essential for students navigating their postsecondary options, where costs and outcomes can vary substantially across programs and institutions. Yet existing federal tools do not provide comprehensive, comparable program-level cost and outcome data.  

The unique program-level insights FVT would provide are not available from other sources maintained by ED, like the College Scorecard, College Navigator, and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). For example, the Scorecard does not allow students (such as an associate’s degree in nursing) to compare how much different colleges charge for the same program. While the College Navigator includes limited program-level data drawn from IPEDS, many colleges are not required to report these data and those that do only report on their largest programs. As a result, students lack consistent, side-by-side information about what different programs cost. 

The future of program-level transparency

To implement the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ED is currently preparing new regulations on higher education accountability and transparency. In January, ED and negotiators reached consensus on a new higher education accountability framework that includes key transparency provisions. Those proposed regulations largely retain FVT and rename it the Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS). Like FVT, STATS would provide clear, comprehensive, and comparable program-level information on costs and outcomes. This includes program length, accreditation, licensure, student debt, median earnings for students who completed or withdrew from the program, and an earnings premium measure that evaluates whether program graduates are likely to earn more than a typical high school graduate.  

The proposed rule will soon be posted for public comment. ED should preserve the transparency provisions in the final rules and continue collecting program-level data from institutions. 

Bottom line

Students deserve clear, comparable information about both the costs and likely outcomes at the programs they’re considering. Releasing the program-level cost data that institutions have already reported as soon as possible would help ensure that students and families can make informed decisions about where to apply and enroll. Retaining the transparency provisions in STATS would further support students in identifying programs that align with their goals and deliver strong value.  

Without program-level cost transparency, earnings data only tell half the story.