"A big reason why the college admissions process can be so stressful is the constant uncertainty: Where do I want to go? If I apply and don’t get in, what are my other options? If I am accepted, what will I study? And, perhaps most importantly, what will this all cost?
Thankfully, the U.S. Department of Education offers a useful tool that can help answer all of those questions. The College Scorecard, first released in 2015, just got a revamp and is now more useful and informative than ever. The Scorecard has gotten boosts in the past, adding certificate-granting programs like cosmetology and massage and including more specialized graduation rates, and this new version is the most powerful yet, containing program-level debt and earnings data.
A few of the key additions to the College Scorecard include:
- Median earnings and debt for graduates, categorized by field of study at a particular school, rather than for the whole institution.
- Graduation rates for all students, including part-time and transfer students. Previously, the Scorecard focused only on first-time and full-time graduation rates.
- The ability to filter potential schools by acceptance rate, median standardized test scores and distance from home." ...