PlainCollege's college data comes from U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard snapshots covering 6,000+ institutions. The Scorecard incorporates IPEDS-derived characteristics, federal student-aid measures, and Treasury-derived earnings.

The College Scorecard suppresses cells that do not meet its reporting and privacy standards and applies additional privacy treatment to earnings. This is common for small programs and schools. Missing data means the source did not publish a usable value; PlainCollege does not estimate it.

Earnings data in the College Scorecard covers former students who received federal financial aid (Pell Grants or federal loans). Students who did not receive financial aid are excluded. This affects selectivity, schools with fewer aid recipients may show higher median earnings partly due to this sampling effect.

It means the median annual earnings of former students measured 6 years after their enrollment began, not 6 years after graduation. Students who took longer to finish, transferred, or did not complete are included in this figure.

Use our Compare tool, which lets you view up to 4 schools side by side across all major data dimensions including cost, earnings, admission rates, and demographics. Find it at /compare on PlainCollege.

Tuition figures come directly from the College Scorecard as reported by institutions to the Department of Education. They reflect the published sticker price for full-time enrollment and do not account for financial aid, scholarships, or part-time enrollment. Net price (after aid) is shown separately where available.

The Department updates Scorecard components several times per year on no fixed date. PlainCollege currently uses institution data retrieved in July 2026 and field-of-study data retrieved in March 2026. Earnings have longer cohort lags: institution fields measure 6–10 years after entry and the program field used here measures four years after completion.