IHEP Celebrates Updates to the College Scorecard to Better Equip Students to Make Higher Ed Choices and Policymakers to Promote Equity-Driven Policies  

Washington, DC (February 7, 2022) – Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced updates to the College Scorecard to provide more useful information to students and families, as well as colleges, universities, researchers, and policymakers. Today’s updates include several key recommendations from the Postsecondary Data Collaborative, including the addition of institution-level earnings; median earnings disaggregated by income, gender, and dependency status; share of former students earning more than a typical high school graduate; and refreshed cumulative debt data. In response to these important changes, IHEP’s president and CEO, Mamie Voight, issued the following statement:

“Deciding where to go to college is one of the most important decisions of a student’s life, and today’s updates to the College Scorecard give students a practical tool to help them make that decision. The updates include several critical changes that will provide all interested parties with the information they need to ensure higher education is the pathway to a better living and a better life that it should be for all students, regardless of race, background, or circumstance. We sincerely appreciate the Department of Education’s recognition that higher education should be affordable and inclusive and provide strong outcomes for students.

“These changes, including increased visibility into workforce outcomes and appropriate contextual information, promote transparency at a crucial time for our country and for our students. COVID-19 disruptions have further complicated students’ college decision processes, making clear, reliable information about the return they can expect from their investment all the more critical.

“The College Scorecard plays a vital role in keeping students informed about their college options, both through their own use of the online tool as well as through researchers’ and developers’ applications and analyses of underlying data. Quality, complete data are also essential to help institutions and policymakers ensure programs, policies, and investments deliver valuable outcomes to all students.

“The Department of Education has made great strides toward the transparent postsecondary data our country needs with this revised edition of the College Scorecard. Now, we call on Congress to act to pass the College Transparency Act, which would strengthen the information available to students even further.”