Outcomes Matter:
About the Higher Ed Outcomes Data Project
Educational attainment is a key driver of social mobility for underserved and underrepresented student populations who, historically, contend with many barriers to higher education. However, not all degree-granting institutions perform equally well and comparative data on how each institution serves specific student groups have not been accessible to students, parents, or policymakers.
To craft policy that most effectively facilitates transparency of information and mobility across student populations, a complete and accurate accounting of institutional performance is critical. The comprehensive data shown on this website indicate two problems across institutions: (1) widespread underperformance on key outcomes and (2) a clear, systemic equity gap.
Shockingly weak outcomes for Black, Hispanic, and low-income students require attention and accountability.
It is currently much too difficult, if not impossible, for Black and Hispanic students — and their advocates — to find the information necessary to make an informed decision about whether an institution will serve them well. Given the information age in which we live, the invisibility of outcomes for these students is startling.
As the databases on this website make clear, poor outcomes for underrepresented students are endemic across all sectors of higher education.
These databases will help address the data invisibility problem by making information available regarding institutions where at-risk and underrepresented students are struggling. We share this data to facilitate a constructive conversation among policy-makers and regulators and to inform policies that hold institutions accountable and protect all students. Equally important, we hope that the data will be used to spur institutional improvements.
All data were compiled using the IPEDS graduation rate (GR) survey data (GR2019) and the most recent College Scorecard data for debt, earnings and repayment rates. For individuals interested in a deeper examination of the data, each section provides a full downloadable database with significantly more information.
We warmly welcome comments and recommendations to improve the utility and functionality of this website.
With thanks to...
While we provide sortable data for all degree-granting institutions, we also provide an analysis of the bottom 5% of institutions in each area. We owe a debt of gratitude to The Education Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for equity and accountability in higher education, for their two reports that inform this work — Tough Love, Bottom Line Quality Standards for Colleges and A Look at Black Student Success: Identifying Top and Bottom Performing Institutions.
Outcomes by Institution:
This database provides a summary of data points by institution including overall on-time and time-and-a-half graduation rates as well as rates for Black, Hispanic and Pell recipients, student debt amounts, cohort default rates and earnings.
Graduation Rates for Underrepresented Groups:
This database includes graduation rates for Black, Hispanic and Pell Grant-receiving students. It also includes an analysis by sector of the lowest performing 200 institutions and additional analysis of high performing and low performing institutions. The full downloadable database provides institutions’ Black-White equity gap in graduation rates.
Debt and Earnings:
This database includes institutions’ median earnings, median debt, and debt to earnings ratios. It also includes an analysis by sector of the lowest performing 200 institutions and additional analysis of high performing and low performing institutions.
Loan Repayment:
This database includes institutions’ loan repayment rates and cohort default rates, including repayment rates for students receiving Pell Grants. It also includes an analysis by sector of the lowest performing 200 institutions and additional analysis of high performing and low performing institutions.
It is time to address both outcomes and information inequity facing Black, Hispanic, and low-income groups in higher education.
Acknowledge that data invisibility for Black, Hispanic, and low-income students is real and contributes to a lack of transparency and accountability. Black and Hispanic students should be able to find disaggregated outcomes for relevant data points such as earnings, debt, key loan indicators, and graduation rates.
The federal government does not collect the following data disaggregated by race or ethnicity at two year institutions: earnings, debt, or on-time graduation rates. Given that free community college is a major policy discussion, we believe this information is more crucial than ever.
Students and their families deserve to know the percentage of Black and Hispanic students graduating within two years at a two-year institution and within four years at a four-year institution. Currently, more than 1,200 institutions do not submit on-time graduation rate data for Black and Hispanic students. Like all students, they deserve to know what their earnings and debt are likely to be after graduating from a given institution, especially because there may be a wide variance in the outcomes for these groups and the data are "masked" by outcomes reported in the aggregate.
Study and recommend bottom-line access and graduation standards for three groups: Black, Hispanic, and low-income students. More than half (53%) of all degree granting institutions enroll less than 30 first time/full time Black students.
Too many institutions enroll too few Black and Hispanic students and have graduation rates that are too low. This is especially true for Black and Hispanic students whose graduation rates are often significantly lower than other groups. 79% of for-profit institutions, 66% of not for profit institutions and 34% of public institutions enroll less than 30 first time/full time Black students. Revisit the Education Trust work, Tough Love: Bottom Line Quality Standards for Colleges, on a bottom 5% standard for graduation rates and extend these standards to the three aforementioned groups. Devise policy and regulation that improves outcomes.
Rigorously test higher education accountability metrics prior to implementation and focus on student and consumer protection.
With the incredible diversity and complexity of higher education, it is imperative that any regulatory effort thoroughly examine and test the underlying data and their application to ensure the most accurate information and effective protection for students and families.
Some of the data on this website is intended to spark questions about whether or not recent federal higher education accountability metrics accomplish their goal of effectively protecting students from low-performing institutions. For example, repayment rates have been promoted as an accurate consumer protection metric; the latest repayment rate threshold set by the Department is 50%+ of students making progress. Yet, this is not met by nearly 90% of all degree-granting institutions. Similar issues are presented by the various debt-to-earnings metrics examined here.
Our work is guided by the following core principles:
Students and their families deserve accurate, easy-to-understand information about the colleges or programs they want to attend and what their experience is likely to be.
Too often, the experiences of underrepresented groups, including Black, Hispanic, and low-income students are obscured by current federal data collection methods. Data invisibility surrounding outcomes for these students should be eliminated through accessible, transparent, and equity-focused information.
Students should have a reasonable expectation of graduating on time from the college they want to attend.
Colleges should be held accountable if too few students graduate. While we recognize that each institution is unique, with those having a mission of access and opportunity facing different challenges than highly selective institutions, we believe that extremely low completion deserves attention and support. There are over 800 U.S. colleges that report an on-time graduation rate of less than 10 percent. There are over 1,000 more that report no on-time data for Black and Hispanic students. Weak outcomes for Black students, in particular, are all too prevalent. Improving college completion rates for Black, Hispanic, and low-income students should be a national priority.
Students should reasonably expect that their earnings will be enough to repay their student loans.
Colleges should be held accountable if student debt is too high—or if their graduates’ incomes are too low relative to their debt load. Institutions that saddle students with high debt and low earnings warrant attention.
Higher education accountability policies should be based on sound data and protect students rather than select institutions.
Too often, policy initiatives aimed at protecting student borrowers have served to protect institutions instead. Policy decisions should be centered on student outcomes regardless of the institution they choose to attend. Student welfare should always drive policy-making.