How to Read College Scorecard Earnings Data Without Being Misled

The earnings figure on a college profile is the median annual pay of former students who received federal aid, finished a credential, were working and were not enrolled in school, measured about four years after they completed. It is the best federal data available on what graduates earn, and it is also easy to misread. It covers only some students, it is a median rather than a promise, and it can hide big differences between majors. This guide explains exactly what the number is, how this site uses it, and how to compare colleges responsibly.

Key takeaways

• Source and method: College Scorecard links federal student aid records with de-identified tax records (IRS W-2 and Schedule SE data). Earnings include wages, deferred compensation and positive self-employment income.
• Who is included: only students who received federal aid (Title IV), who were working and not enrolled in school in the measurement year. The median is for people who have earnings, so it is not the average across everyone.
• Which figures this site shows: median earnings of graduates 4 years after completing, in 2024 dollars, and entry-cohort earnings 6 and 10 years after students first enrolled, in 2022 dollars.
• Missing values are normal. Scorecard withholds values that do not meet privacy standards, and this site shows them as missing, not as zero.
• Use earnings together with net price, debt and graduation rates, and look at specific programs, not just the whole college.

What the headline number is

According to the Scorecard glossary, “earnings after completing” is the median annual earnings of individuals who received federal aid, completed their award, were working and were not enrolled in school, measured in the fourth full year after completion, adjusted to 2024 dollars. The Scorecard documentation lists the measurement years for the current figure as calendar years 2022 and 2023, for students who completed during the 2017–18 and 2018–19 award years, and pools those two cohorts to reduce year-to-year noise.

In plain terms: Scorecard looks at people who graduated from a college several years ago, keeps those who were employed and not back in school, and reports the middle value of their annual pay. Half earned more, half earned less.

The site also shows the entry cohort measure: earnings of the federally aided students who started at the college in a given period, whether or not they finished, measured 6 to 10 years after entry. That figure answers a different question: “what happened to a typical student who enrolled?” rather than “what did graduates earn?” For the cohorts we use, the values are in 2022 dollars (their exact data periods are listed on our methodology page). Do not compare the two measures directly, and be careful when comparing figures in different dollar years.

Who is not in the number

• Students who did not receive federal aid. Scorecard notes that the data include only Title IV-receiving students, so the figures may not represent schools where few students use federal aid.
• People not working or enrolled. Graduates who were back in school (for example in graduate programs) in the measurement year are excluded, and the median reflects only those with earnings.
• Self-employment losses and untaxed income. Only positive self-employment income is included.
• Differences within a college. Scorecard’s own documentation warns that variation across programs within an institution may be even greater than the variation across institutions. A college’s overall median blends nursing, art and engineering together.

Why values go missing

Scorecard documentation explains that data not meeting privacy standards are shown as “PS” (privacy suppressed), and data that are not available show as “NA.” For earnings, Scorecard also adds statistical noise to the underlying medians and withholds values where the noise would make them unreliable. Small cohorts therefore often have no earnings value. On this site, missing values stay blank; we do not estimate them. Our current release was last updated by Scorecard on June 10, 2026.

Using earnings with other measures

A single number says little. Here are the metrics this site derives from Scorecard data and what each tells you. All are described in our methodology.

Measure	What it is
Debt-to-earnings	Median completer debt divided by median earnings 4 years after completing
Payment share	Typical annual loan payments (10-year plan) as a share of those earnings
Share earning more than a high school graduate	Share of former students who earn more than the median worker aged 25 to 34 whose highest education is high school
Payback years	Years for the earnings premium over a high school graduate in the same state to repay the estimated net cost (shown only when the premium is at least $2,000)

Scorecard calculates the “typical monthly loan payment” from median debt on a standard 10-year repayment plan, at 4.99% interest for undergraduate loans. Real borrowers have other repayment options, so treat it as a benchmark, not your bill.

An illustrative example

These numbers are illustrative and not from a real college.

Input	Value
Net price per year	$15,000
Estimated four-year net cost	$60,000
Median completer debt	$27,000
Median earnings 4 years after completing	$48,000
Median earnings of high-school graduates in the state (comparison)	$36,000

• Debt-to-earnings: 27,000 ÷ 48,000 is about 0.56.
• Typical monthly payment on $27,000 over 10 years at 4.99% is roughly $286, or about $3,430 a year. That is about 7% of $48,000.
• Earnings premium: 48,000 minus 36,000 is $12,000. Payback: 60,000 ÷ 12,000 = 5.0 years.

If the same college’s earnings were $38,000, the premium would be only $2,000, and the payback would stretch to about 30 years, which is exactly the kind of case where the figures should make you look harder at cost, program and alternatives.

How to compare colleges carefully

1. Compare within a group. Compare schools of similar level, control (public, private nonprofit, for-profit) and program mix.
2. Compare the right year. Check whether two figures are in the same dollar year and period.
3. Look at programs. The college page lists top-earning fields where data exists; field-of-study earnings can differ by tens of thousands of dollars within one school.
4. Account for the labor market. Pay differs by state and region, and cost of living differs too. Earnings in a high-cost metro area do not stretch as far.
5. Mind the student mix. Selective colleges enroll students who may have earned more regardless of where they went. Earnings reflect the student body and the school together.
6. Pair with cost and completion. A strong earnings number matters less if few students finish or net price is very high. See graduation and retention rates and how much debt is too much.

Common mistakes

• Reading the median as a guarantee or an average. Half of graduates earned less.
• Comparing graduates’ earnings to entry-cohort earnings. They answer different questions and use different dollar years.
• Treating missing as zero. Missing means withheld or not reported.
• Forgetting that earnings reflect your major. Your outcome depends on your field, location and choices.
• Ignoring debt and net price. Earnings only make sense relative to cost.

What to do next

• Open a few profiles in the college finder and compare earnings, debt and net price side by side.
• Check the rankings for earnings and payback lists, and colleges by state.
• Estimate your own costs with the net price calculator.
• Read how loans work in federal student loans explained.

This guide is educational and not individualized financial advice. Earnings come from College Scorecard (data last updated June 10, 2026) and describe past cohorts; future outcomes can differ.