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8/20/2019 Scoring the College Scorecard: What’s Good and What Needs Improvement
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Scoring the College Scorecard
What’s Good and What Needs Improvement
By Ben Miller February 2016
WWW.AMERICANPROGRESS.O
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Scoring the College ScorecardWhat’s Good and What Needs Improvement
By Ben Miller February 2016
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1 Introduction and summary
3 The good
7 Improve existing indicators
19 New indicators needed from the Department of Educati
27 Conclusion
29 Endnotes
Contents
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1 Center for American Progress | Scoring the College Scorecard
Introduction and summary
Te word “voluminous” does no even begin o describe he College Scorecard.
Tis new ool o help sudens and heir amilies choose insiuions o higher edu-
caion, released by he U.S. Deparmen o Educaion in Sepember 2015, conains
1,700 variables abou more han 7,000 colleges across 18 years o daa rom 1996
o 2013.1 I is almos cerainly he larges release ever o higher educaion daa.
A is hear, he College Scorecard showcases he power o unlocking even a
small porion o he daa capabiliies held by he ederal governmen. I conainsimporan indicaors ha have never previously been available or all insiuions
o higher educaion. Tis includes he earnings o sudens who received ederal
financial aid, muliple years o repaymen hisory or suden borrowers, and he
ypical deb loads by year. Even beter, i disaggregaes mos o hese indicaors,
making i possible o compare he resuls or sudens who graduaed wih he
daa on hose who dropped ou, across income bands, and by gender.
Spending several monhs analyzing he scorecard, however, reveals several weak-
nesses and daa limiaions. Some o he acors underlying hese shorcomings are
ouside he Deparmen o Educaion’s conrol. For insance, he agency can repor
only daa on sudens who received ederal aid because o a congressional ban on
including all sudens in he deparmen’s daabases.2 Oher issues, such as only
reporing resuls or insiuions overall and no by program, will likely ge beter
wih ime. Bu he Deparmen o Educaion could address some problems now.
Tis includes using a rue measure o loan repaymen, aligning suden cohors
across differen measures, and fixing daa suppression policies. Finally, here are sev-
eral useul indicaors, paricularly relaed o loan perormance, ha he deparmen
could generae off he daa ha i now holds in order o beter inorm he public.
Wih his ieraion o he College Scorecard now approaching is six-monh
anniversary, his repor akes a sep back o assess he ool’s daa. I looks a he
scorecard hrough our secions. Firs, i highlighs he good measures ha were
imporan inclusions. For example, he disaggregaion o resuls by ype o suden,
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no jus insiuion, is imporan or ideniying places ha may be serving cerain
ypes o individuals well. Similarly, reporing earnings and loan repaymen inorma-
ion provides new measures or rehinking oucomes. And disclosing hese daa
across several cohors and poins in ime allows or a beter undersanding o how
resuls can change.
Second, he repor looks a wha he Deparmen o Educaion could do beter
in he nex round in erms o improving he indicaors ha i already repors and
making changes ha improve he daa’s usabiliy and clariy. For insance, he
deparmen could use a beter definiion o suden loan repaymen ha more
accuraely capures people who are reiring heir deb, as well as beter align
cohors or differen measures o assis in comparing oucomes.
Tird, i suggess addiional measures he Deparmen o Educaion could add.
For insance, i could disclose more inormaion abou loan oucomes, paricularly
he use o income-driven repaymen plans. I also could break ou resuls or par-en borrowers and graduae sudens o help hese individuals beter undersand
heir choices.
Finally, his repor recommends ha Congress improve he College Scorecard by
allowing he Deparmen o Educaion o collec daa on all sudens atending
college, no jus hose receiving ederal financial aid. Tese addiional daa would
make i possible o see how sudens who are served by he aid programs are com-
pared wih hose who are no. I also would provide a complee picure o resuls
or insiuions, somehing ha may no be happening now a places where only a
small porion o sudens receive ederal assisance.
Te hope is ha having an hones conversaion abou he College Scorecard’s
daa will lay he groundwork or urning i ino an even more useul and compre-
hensive ool in he uure. Doing his would help sudens and heir amilies make
sound choices abou where o apply and how o pay or college based on clear,
undersandable, and comparable inormaion. I also would make he daa more
useul or policymakers o beter undersand comparisons, and more complee
daa on earnings should be o paricular ineres o insiuions ha currenly can-
no ge such inormaion in a comprehensive way.
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The good
Tis secion discusses he paricularly noeworhy or groundbreaking elemens o
he College Scorecard, which are worh commending. Te elemens highlighed
below are imporan or urhering our abiliy o undersand possecondary ou-
comes and could help sudens and heir amilies in he college selecion process.
Disaggregation
By hinking abou inormaion in erms o suden characerisics and no jus
by insiuion, he scorecard represens an imporan urning poin in he daa
release sraegy rom he Office o Federal Suden Aid. radiionally, inorma-
ion abou he ederal suden aid programs has been limied o a ew indicaors a
he insiuional level. Tis includes measures such as he percenage o borrow-
ers who deauled on heir loans wihin a ew years o enering repaymen. Te
Deparmen o Educaion sared geting beter a his a ew years ago wih he
creaion o he Federal Suden Aid Daa Cener.3 Tis websie discloses quarerly
inormaion abou how much money each insiuion has received rom he differ-
en ederal aid programs. I also provides breakdowns o he overall loan porolio
in erms o he amoun o ederal loans in deaul, repaymen, and by differen
delinquency sauses, among oher indicaors.
In none o hese disclosures, however, did he deparmen break ou any o he
daa by suden indicaors. For insance, he agency repors he amoun o loans
received by a school bu no how much loan money wen o recipiens o he ed-
eral Pell Gran or o dependen sudens, or oher characerisics.
Te College Scorecard breaks his paradigm. Insead o jus providing a ew newoucomes merics, i provides several disaggregaion opions or mos measures.
For insance, daa users can see repaymen raes and deb levels broken down by
wheher a suden graduaed or no, heir dependency saus, heir income range,
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when hey enered college, heir gender, i hey received a Pell Gran, and i hey
are a firs-generaion suden. Compleion daa have all hese breakdowns, plus
an indicaor ha saes wheher a suden received a ederal loan. While earnings
indicaors are no as deailed, hey can sill show resuls by gender, income upon
enry, and dependency saus.
Tese disaggregaes make i possible o develop a more nuanced picure o suden
loan perormance. For insance, he repaymen rae daa show ha he overall
percenage o borrowers repaying heir loans hree years afer beginning repay-
men declined rom 75 percen o hose who enered repaymen in 2006 or 2007
o 62 percen o hose who enered in 2010 or 2011. 4 Bu breaking he daa down
urher reveals differen sories. Among hose who compleed, repaymen raes
declined rom 83 percen o 74 percen, a smaller drop han he overall number
over he same ime rame. By conras, borrowers who did no complee saw a
sunning drop in suden loan repaymen o 17 percenage poins, rom 70 percen
o 53 percen during he same period. Similarly, high-income borrowers only sawa 6 percenage poin decline in repaymen raes versus a 17 percenage poin drop
among he lowes-income borrowers. Tese resuls srongly sugges a need o do
more o ackle college compleion and help low-income sudens avoid borrow-
ingfindings ha would no be eviden rom jus he overall repaymen raes no
disaggregaed by suden characerisics.
Better measures of loan per formance and completion
Te mos commonly used ederal higher educaion measures are he graduaion
rae and suden loan deaul rae. Boh, however, have significan flaws in heir
definiions. Graduaion raes only rack daa or sudens atending heir firs
college and who go ull ime in he all semeser. Tis definiion is no inherenly
wrong, bu i limis he measuremen o a college’s success in wo key ways. Firs,
i does no give he insiuions credi or graduaing any o he increasingly large
numbers o sudens who atend par ime, ranser, or sar in he spring or sum-
mer semesers.5 Second, he measure generally keeps any suden who ransers
ou o a college in he denominaor o he calculaion, reaing hem like a drop-
ou.6
In some cases, hese limiaions may undersae he rue college compleionpicure. Tis is paricularly rue or communiy colleges, which receive no credi
or successully sending sudens o our-year insiuions under his ormula. In
oher insances, hese ormulas may presen an overly posiive picure o gradua-
ion, since sudens who go par ime are less likely o graduae.7
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Cohor deaul raes, meanwhile, are oo easily manipulaed.8 Because he measure
only racks sudens who deaul wihin hree years o enering repaymen, insiu-
ions can reduce heir deaul raes by having borrowers go ino deermen or
orbearance on heir loans or a ew years. While doing so prevens sudens rom
deauling wihin he measuremen window, i does no se hem up or long-erm
repaymen success. Tis pracice resuls in a picure o deaul ha ails o capurelarge numbers o borrowers who are sruggling wih heir debs.
Te scorecard daa conains indicaors ha correc boh compleion and deaul
raes. For he ormer, i uses he Naional Suden Loan Daa Sysem, or NSLDS,
a comprehensive daabase ha conains inormaion on all sudens receiving
ederal aid benefis in order o generae more robus compleion raes.9 Tese
daa include couns o sudens who lef an insiuion and enrolled or graduaed
elsewhere. I also racks he daa or eigh years, which is double he lengh o cur-
ren graduaion rae calculaions or wo-year insiuions. And i is able o repor
resuls separaely or Pell Gran recipiens going back o July 2012a daa poinha had been exremely difficul or policymakers o obain a he insiuional
level.10 Tis way o reporing daa makes i possible o give insiuions credi or
ranser sudens and also include hose who atend par ime.
Te scorecard improves upon suden loan deaul raes by reporing a measure o
suden loan repaymen. Tis figure looks a he percenage o borrowers who afer
one, hree, five, and seven years are boh no in deaul and have reduced heir ou-
sanding principal balance by a leas $1. Tis measure is ar less open o manipu-
laion. For insance, sudens who go ino orbearance on paymens will ail he
es because ineres will accumulae on heir loans and increase heir ousanding
balance. Closing he loopholes ha undermine he deaul calculaions makes
repaymen raes a much more meaningul measure o loan perormance.
Redefining hese wo key measures represens an imporan sep in moving he
possecondary daa discussion orward. Boh deaul and graduaion rae calcu-
laions have been largely unchanged since hey were creaed in he 1990she
deaul rae now racks borrowers or hree years insead o wo, bu he res o he
calculaion is he same. Providing new daa makes i possible o quesion wheher
hese indicaors should be changed or wha could come in heir sead.
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Reporting earnings data
While he use o earnings inormaion or he purposes o hinking abou a col-
lege’s value is conroversial in some circles, i is also an unavoidable elemen o he
equaion.11 Were sudens o pay no money ou o pocke or college and ake on
no deb, hen perhaps earnings would cease o be relevan. Bu given he subsan-ial sums paid by sudens, especially wih loans ha mus be repaid afer leav-
ing school, sudens mus know wheher programs are likely o have a sufficien
reurn o jusiy heir expense. Moreover, sudens wan his inormaion. When
surveyed, hey overwhelmingly indicae ha economic concerns drive a number
o heir college decisions. Sudens worry abou wheher hey will be able o ge
a beter job afer graduaing, build a beter lie or hemselves and heir children,
and oher similar concerns.12 Generaing inormaion on he earnings o ormer
sudens presens he only pah orward o answer hese quesions.
Te scorecard presens he bes daa o dae on earnings o sudens across allinsiuions. Unlike websies such as PayScale, which rely on sel-repored daa,
he College Scorecard figures are drawn direcly rom adminisraive daa held
by he U.S. Deparmen o he reasury.13 Tis is a more comprehensive collec-
ion han sel-repored daa. Similarly, i is beter han some earnings daa ha
saes repor because hose measures ail o rack sudens who move o anoher
sae, which is a problem ha he ederal governmen does no have. Finally, he
scorecard’s earnings daa also include muliple measuresbreaking ou he daa
annually or sudens in he 6 hrough 10 years ollowing heir enry ino higher
educaion. Tis makes i possible o char change in earnings over ime and see
how he pah o college sudens in he workorce may change.
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Improve existing indicators
Tis secion discusses elemens ha are currenly on he College Scorecard bu are
in need o improvemens ha he Deparmen o Educaion could make now.
Use a true repayment rate
Te repaymen rae used in he scorecard is much beter han he exising mea-
sure o suden loan deaul, or he reasons explained earlier. I is no, however,a paricularly meaningul indicaor o suden loan repaymen. Wha he mea-
sure ess is he percenage o sudens who did no deaul and had paid down
a leas $1 o principal wihin eiher one, hree, five, or seven years. Tis is in
effec a negaive amorizaion esha is o say, is he debor paying off a leas
he amoun o ineres ha accumulaes each year so ha hey are no worse off
han a he sar o he loan?
Te problem is ha no having a balance grow is no he same as making meaning-
ul progress o reire a deb. A borrower who owed $10,000 upon enering repay-
men, has a 5 percen ineres rae, and plans o pay off he deb over 10 years will
have reired around 26 percen o wha hey owed afer hree ull years o paymens;
on a 20-year plan, hey will have paid off almos 10 percen.14 Boh o hese sums
are much larger han he $1 es required o coun as repaying on he scorecard.
reaing he $1 reducion as successul repaymen hus poenially cass large
numbers o sudens as deb successes who are ar rom ha siuaion. Someone
who mees only he $1 es is sill nowhere close o reiring heir deb quickly. I jus
means hey are no seeing heir deb siuaion worsen. Couning hem as a success-
ul repaymen can make he suden loan siuaion seem beter han i is in realiy.
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Forunaely, he Deparmen o Educaion could correc his issue in hree differ-
en ways. Firs, i could redefine he successul repaymen es o say ha a suden
couns as successully repaying i afer hree or our years in repaymen hey owe
no more han wha he balance should be a ha poin in ime i hey were paying
i off over 20 years. In oher words, he deparmen would use he loan’s ineres
rae, original balance upon enering repaymen, and a 20-year repaymen period oesimae how much should remain ousanding afer hree or our years.15 I would
hen compare ha amoun wih he acual loan balance afer he same period o
ime. Borrowers wih amouns a or below his level would pass his es, while
hose above i would no pass. In he case o he borrower noed above, his would
mean ha heir balance a he end o hree years would have o be abou $9,029 or
less. Tis is in effec a es o wheher a borrower has paid down a leas 9.7 percen
o heir balance wihin hree years o enering repaymen. weny years is he bes
ime rame because borrowers who are going o ake longer likely will receive loan
orgiveness hrough an income-driven paymen, which is no an ideal oucome or
he governmen.16 While making such a change is more mahemaically compli-caed, he Deparmen o Educaion’s sysems should be able o char a borrower’s
balance a differen poins in ime o do he calculaion.
I he above calculaion is oo complicaed, he deparmen could adop a variaion
ha, insead o relying upon a loan’s acual ineres rae, uses he maximum allow-
able rae. Currenly, Safford loans are capped a an 8.25 percen ineres rae.17 A
borrower wih a loan a ha rae paying off a deb over 20 years would have abou
93.3 percen o heir original loan balance remaining afer hree years o enering
repaymen. So he deparmen could judge someone as successully repaying loans
as long as hey owed no more han his amoun on he loans. Tis approach is much
simpler o adminiser, hough i is a laxer bar han using he acual ineres rae. For
insance, someone who has a 5 percen ineres rae should have paid down 90.6
percen o heir balance. Te deparmen would have o deermine wheher ha
difference is enough o warran using he acual loan erms.
Te oher way o presen repaymen inormaion in a way ha is easier or su-
dens and amilies o undersand is o use several years o pas paymen his-
ory o generae an esimae o how long i will ake o pay down he deb. Tis
would be easible only or direc loan borrowers or oher ederal loans held byhe Deparmen o Educaion, since he deparmen does no obain paymen
inormaion rom loans ha privae companies hold. Forunaely, since Congress
eliminaed he abiliy or privae companies o issue ederally guaraneed loans in
2010, his will no be a problem going orward.18
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TABLE 1
Options for improving the repayment rate
Option Successful repayment definition
Principal reduction
needed in order to
successfully repay loans*
Current College
Scorecard formula
Borrowers who reduced the principal balance on
their loans by at least $1 and have not defaulted0.01%
20-year payment
on actual loan terms
Borrowers whose balance at the end of three years
of repayment is equal to or less than what they would
owe at that point if they were paying off loans with
the same terms over 20 years
9%
20-year payment
on maxium
loan terms
Borrowers whose balance at the end of three years
of repayment is equal to or less than what they would
owe at that point if they were paying off loans with the
maximum interest rate of 8.25 percent over 20 years
7%
Estimated
repayment time
Based on the amount repaid over three years, how
many years of repayment will the average borrower
take to pay their loan in full?
N/A
* The projections in this table are based on a $10,000 loan with a 5 percent interest rate.
Source: CAP projections of student loan balances using Amortization-calc.com, “Amortization Schedule Calculator,” available athttp://www.amortization-calc.com (last accessed January 2016).
Here’s how a repaymen rae based on paymen hisory would work. Te
Deparmen o Educaion would look a how much he borrower paid over hree,
five, or seven years in repaymen. I would use hose amouns o creae an esi-
mae o acual monhly paymens made by he borrower. I would hen calculae,
based upon he borrower’s original balance, how long i would ake in oal o
reire he deb i he borrower kep paying off he loan a ha rae. For example,
say he borrower wih a $10,000 loan and a 5 percen ineres rae had made
esimaed monhly paymens o $75 over he firs hree years; based upon ha
amoun, i would ake a bi over 16 years o pay off he deb ully.19 Te depar-
men could run his calculaion or all borrowers and hen presen he average or
median number o years i esimaes borrowers will need o repay heir deb. Tis
presenaion is likely more consumer riendly, since i expresses resuls in erms
o years, which is easy o undersand.
Align cohorts for repayment, cumulative debt, and earnings
A major challenge wih he College Scorecard daa is ha he cohors or is main
indicaors do no align. Tis hinders he abiliy o measure he ineraciviy o cer-
ain oucomes, such as seeing how much he deb levels o sudens affec repay-
men raes or how earnings correlae wih deb.
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Te lack o alignmen beween repaymen raes and deb levels illusraes hese
challenges. Te repaymen daa are based upon he ederal fiscal year in which a
borrower eners repaymen. By conras, he cumulaive deb measures are based
upon he ederal fiscal year in which he suden separaes rom college. Te problem
is ha borrowers do no ener repaymen unil six monhs afer hey leave school. 20
Depending on when borrowers graduae or drop ou, he ederal fiscal year in whichhey separae and he one in which hey ener repaymen may be differen. For
insance, a borrower who graduaed in May 2010 enered repaymen in FY 2011. So
heir repaymen saus is racked in 2011, bu he deb is couned in 2010.
Earnings daa, meanwhile, are aligned wih he compleion rae daa bu no he
deb figures. Boh he earnings and compleion figures define cohors based upon
he ederal aid award year in which a suden enered college, which runs rom July
1 o one year o June 30 o he ollowing year.21 Tis makes i possible o see how
college compleion raes migh affec earnings resuls. Te deb figures, however,
are based upon he year ha sudens separaed rom college, so hey are com-pleely differen rom he earnings resuls.
TABLE 2
How the College Scorecard defines cohorts for its different indicators
Indicator Cohort definition
Repayment
rates
The federal fiscal year in which a borrower enters repayment after their six-month
grace period
Cumulative
debtThe federal fiscal year in which a borrower exits school before their six-month grace period
Earnings The federal aid award year in which a student who receives federal aid enters college
Completion The federal aid award year in which a student who receives federal aid enters college
Note: Federal fiscal years run from October 1 of one year to September 30 of the following year. Federal aid award years run from July 1of one year to June 30 of the following year.
Source: College Scorecard Data, Data Documentation for College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education, 2015), available athttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdf.
Te Deparmen o Educaion can fix all o hese issues. For sarers, he agency
should a leas repor consisen cohors or he deb indicaors. o do his, i
should change he deb calculaion o reflec he amoun owed when a sudenenered repaymen and he year in which ha occurred so ha his lines up wih
he repaymen rae cohor. Te deparmen also should fix he earnings calcula-
ion o beter align wih hese measures, as described below.
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Generate earnings results based upon when students leave
Te cohor used or earnings daa is arguably he mos misundersood indicaor
in he scorecard. Ta’s because unlike he repaymen or deb figures, his cohor
is no based upon he ederal fiscal year in which someone enered repaymen bu
raher he aid award year when he or she sared college. In addiion, he earn-ings daa do no disaggregae figures based upon wheher someone did or did no
graduae. In oher words, he mos up-o-dae earnings figure in he daa racks he
income levels in 2011 or 2012 o undergraduae sudens who received ederal aid
and sared college in 2005 or 2006.
Tere are some advanages o measuring earnings based upon enry. For one, i
aligns he earnings daa wih he compleion figures presened on he scorecard.
Tis makes i possible o undersand he possible correlaion beween comple-
ion raes and uure earnings. Measuring earnings based upon enry also allows
sudens o undersand heir poenial oucomes regardless o wheher hey gradu-ae. Te advanage o his is ha an insiuion where only a small percenage o
enrans graduae and ge good jobs will no presen an overly posiive picure by
only ocusing on he oucomes or people who graduae.
A he same ime, measuring earnings based only on year o enry has several
problems. Mos imporanly, i complicaes comparisons across differen ypes o
colleges. For insance, looking a earnings resuls six years afer enry a a our-year
college may be capuring people who have been in he workorce or less han a
year. By conras, he resuls a a wo-year college could represen someone who
has been working or our years. Defining he cohor based upon year o enry also
means ha graduaes and nongraduaes boh ge couned in he daa. Te prob-
lem is ha he earnings reurn could be wo very differen scenariosone level
o reurn or hose who graduaed and a presumably lower one or hose who did
no. Adding he wo ogeher does capure how noncompleion can drive down
resuls bu also likely undersaes he benefis o graduaing.
Te Deparmen o Educaion should address hese issues by making some
fixes o he exising earnings daa and considering addiional cohors o repor.
Firs, i should include a compleion disaggregaion or he earnings daa basedupon when a suden enered college. Tis makes i possible o see how earnings
differ or hose who compleed and hose who did no. Second, i should repor
an addiional earnings cohor o define sudens by he year hey lef college,
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disaggregaed by wheher hey graduaed or wihdrew. Te deparmen should
align his new cohor wih he repaymen and deb cohors.22 Doing so makes
i possible o beter undersand he linkages beween compleion saus, deb
amouns, repaymen, and earningscrucial connecions ha are necessary or
undersanding he financial reurns o a college educaion.
Te qualiy o older daa is a poenial impedimen o fixing his problem. I is only
in he pas ew years ha he Deparmen o Educaion has placed a srong emphasis
on making insiuions accuraely repor wheher sudens compleed or wihdrew.
Te problem wih poenially inaccurae reporing is ha many insiuions appear
o have been incorrecly reporing all or mos o heir sudens as having wihdrawn,
regardless o wheher hey did in ac graduae. Because earnings are measured or as
long as 10 years, his means i will be several years beore he deparmen can gener-
ae longer-erm earnings daa based upon when sudens finished.
Repaymen rae daa disaggregaed by compleion saus show insances oalmos cerain incorrec insiuional reporing o wheher a suden graduaed.
For insance, he Universiy o Alabama repored ha o he borrowers who
enered repaymen in 2006 and 2007 and were racked or seven years, more
han 2,400 sudens had no graduaed, while he number o sudens who did
finish was suppressed or privacy reasons. Tis figure is unquesionably wrong.
According o daa repored o he Inegraed Possecondary Educaion Daa
Sysem, or IPEDS, he insiuion had a 2007 graduaion rae among firs-ime,
ull-ime sudens o 63 percen, wih more han 938 compleers.23 While no
all o hese individuals had suden loans, he insiuion did have a borrowing
rae o 38 percen, suggesing ha a leas several hundred individuals should
be in he compleion cohor or repaymen raes.24 Moreover, he Universiy o
Alabama’s mos recen repaymen daaor sudens enering repaymen in 2010
or 2011 and racked or hree yearsshows ha 3,080 borrowers graduaed and
ha he number o dropous was no large enough o avoid privacy suppression.
Tese are almos cerainly he correc figures.
I i urns ou ha insiuions only recenly fixed heir daa reporing enough o
rus he compleion figures, hen i will be some ime beore long-erm earnings
based upon when sudens lef school will be easible. For insance, he 2010 and2011 cohors will no have boh hi six years ou o college unil 2017, and i will
ake unil 2021 o hi 10 years ou. Add in anoher year or so or daa analysis, and
long-erm earnings based upon compleion saus may be a long way off.
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Generate outcomes by program, not just institution
Policymakers ofen ocus on analyzing insiuions, bu increasing bodies o
research demonsrae ha earnings may vary as much across he differen pro-
grams in a college as hey do beween schools.25 Similarly, many lower-income
sudens, who may ace geographic consrains ha limi hem o only one or wopossecondary opions, sill have he abiliy o choose wha o sudy. 26 Tese indi-
viduals also would benefi rom seeing oucomes daa by program.
Breaking ou resuls by program is an issue ha he Deparmen o Educaion
is working oward fixing over ime. Tis is because colleges are now required
o repor o he Naional Suden Loan Daa Sysem wha program a suden
enrolls in and graduaes rom. Tis new requiremen by he deparmen, how-
ever, did no sar unil 2013, and i is no reroacive.27 As a resul, he depar-
menand, in many cases, he insiuioncanno go back and break down
resuls by program or pas cohors. Te deparmen can, however, sar o dohis in he uure. For insance, i will have program daa or borrowers saring
wih he 2014 ederal fiscal year; assuming i ollows he patern o combining
wo cohors o daa, i should be able o generae one-year repaymen raes by
program or he cohors o sudens who enered repaymen in 2014 or 2015 a
he end o Sepember 2017.28 Unorunaely, he newness o he program-level
reporing requiremen does mean ha daa on longer-erm oucomes will ake a
bi longer o generae. Bu i will be here evenually.
Stop suppressing data for cohorts with many students
Suppressing daa is an imporan privacy proecion ool. No reporing resuls or
cohors wih ew sudens in hem proecs agains he possibiliy ha someone
may be able o ideniy oucomes or a specific individual. Tis is an issue ha he
Deparmen o Educaion aces wih all is daa indicaors. I is why, or example, i
adds ogeher he daa or muliple years o borrowers’ suden loan deaul raes i
ewer han 30 borrowers ener repaymen in a given year.29
Ye in many cases, he College Scorecard daa appear o go much urher han neces-sary when suppressing daa. For example, exas A&M Universiy had 6,185 com-
pleers ener repaymen in FY 2006 or FY 2007.30 Ye is hree-year repaymen rae
or graduaes is privacy suppressed. So are he resuls or Michigan Sae Universiy,
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wih 5,861 compleers. All old, o he hree-year repaymen raes or borrowers
who enered repaymen in 2006 or 2007, nearly 1,400 insiuions wih more han
30 sudens in heir compleer cohor had heir resuls privacy suppressed.31 Tis
includes more han 300 insiuions wih more han 500 compleers. I is no oally
clear wha migh be causing his suppression o large cohors, bu whaever proocol
produces i needs o be rehough o beter balance he need or privacy wih makingpublic he resuls or very large cohors.
Reduce completion categories to avoid suppression issues
Similar suppression issues exis elsewhere in he daa. For insance, he score-
card conains deailed ranser and compleion daa or ederally aided sudens
wo, hree, our, six, and eigh years afer enering college. For each o hose
years, he scorecard indicaes wheher sudens were sill enrolled, wihdrew,
compleed, or i heir saus is unknown. In each o hese caegories, he score-card also disaggregaes daa based upon wheher he suden achieved ha
saus a ha school, afer ranserring o a our-year insiuion, or afer rans-
erring o a wo-year college. Along wih he rae o sudens who died, his
presens 13 differen sauses a given individual could end up in during a year.
Teoreically, he combined percenage o sudens in hese sauses should add
up o 100 percen. Bu ha is almos never he case. Te problem, again, is privacy
suppression. Te Deparmen o Educaion does no repor he rae or any saus
ha only has a ew sudens in i. Tis pracice makes i impossible o add properly
across all he sauses o generae a perec picure o compleion.
Privacy suppression is paricularly problemaic or evaluaing compleion raes.
Consider he case o James H. Faulkner Sae Communiy College in Alabama.
able 3 shows how he scorecard repors he oucomes afer eigh years or is
ederally aided sudens who enered Faulkner Sae in 1997 or 2005.
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TABLE 3
How privacy suppression affects completion data
at Faulkner State Community College
Share of federally aided students at Faulkner State,
by outcome eight years after entering college
College entry year 1997 2005
Completed: original institution Suppressed 9
Completed: transferred to a 4-year institution 20 13
Completed: transferred to a 2-year institution 3 4
Withdrew: original institution Suppressed 24
Withdrew: transferred to a 4-year institution 20 20
Withdrew: transferred to a 2-year institution 2 5
Still enrolled: original institution 3 Suppressed
Still enrolled: transferred to a 4-year institution 6 3
Still enrolled: transferred to a 2-year inst itut ion Suppressed Suppressed
Unknown: original institution 29 15
Unknown: transferred to a 4-year institution 5 1
Unknown: transferred to a 2-year institution 9 3
Died Suppressed Suppressed
Source: CAP analysis of U.S. Department of Education, “College Scorecard Data: 2004 and 2012,” available athttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/ (last accessed January 2016).
By suppressing hese daa in he 1997 cohor, i is impossible o deermine wha
percenage o sudens acually graduaed rom he insiuionnor can he
public see wha percenage wihdrew. I also is no clear how o calculae he col-
lege’s compleion rae, since surely some percenage o sudens did graduae rom
Faulkner Sae. While IPEDS daa do no go back o he 1997 cohor, hey do
show ha he sudens who enered he insiuion in 1998 beginning as ull-ime
sudens had a compleion rae o 16 percen.32 Forunaely, as he 2005 daa show,
he incidence o suppression appears o be declining. In his case, he compleion
and wihdrawal resuls a he original insiuion are visible, while he percenage
unknown ell by nearly wo-hirds.
While hopeully he beter resuls or more recen cohors sugges his daaproblem will become less requen wih ime, here are some ways o fix his issue
or earlier years. Te deparmen could sop reporing ranser merics broken
down by wo-year or our-year insiuions as a way o reduce he number o
caegories and hopeully lessen privacy suppression. In his case, he agency would
break down resuls in he ollowing caegories: compleed a original insiuion;
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ranserred and compleed; wihdrew rom original insiuion; ranserred and
wihdrew; and so on. Te advanage o his approach is ha i preserves daa on
ranser. A shorcoming, however, is ha i does lose he disincion beween
someone who sars a one communiy college and finishes a anoher, bu his is
arguably less imporan han knowing wheher someone rom a wo-year school
goes on o a our-year college and graduaes.
Alernaively, he deparmen could repor resuls across ewer caegories, such
as sudens who compleed, wihdrew, were sill enrolled, or have an unknown
saus. Tis change would mean ha someone who ransers and complees ges
combined wih someone who complees a he original insiuion, wih a similar
approach aken or hose who wihdrew or have an unknown saus. I is less likely
ha hese combined groups will be privacy suppressedespecially eigh years
afer enrollingso hey will presen a more accurae picure o wha happened o
sudens. While he advanage o his approach is ha i ocuses on he ulimae
oucome, i does mean ha less daa on ranser specifically would ge repored.
TABLE 4
Alternate completion reporting options
Current scorecard outcomes
Moderate
consolidation
Greater
consolidation
Completed: original institution
Completed: transferred to a 4-year institution
Completed: transferred to a 2-year institution
Completed: original institution
Completed: transferredCompleted
Withdrew: original institution
Withdrew: transferred to a 4-year institution
Withdrew: transferred to a 2-year institution
Withdrew: original institution
Withdrew: transferredWithdrew
Still enrolled: original institution
Still enrolled: transferred to a 4-year institution
Still enrolled: transferred to a 2-year institution
Still enrolled: original institution
Still enrolled: transferredStill enrolled
Unknown: original institution
Unknown: transferred to a 4-year institution
Unknown: transferred to a 2-year institution
Unknown: original institution
Unknown: transferredUnknown
Died Dropped Dropped
Source: CAP suggestions for possible new completion metrics are based on analysis of U.S. Department of Education, “College ScorecardData,” available at https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/ (last accessed January 2016).
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Finally, he Deparmen o Educaion should consider dropping he percen-
age o sudens who died rom he compleion daa, paricularly i i would help
wih privacy suppression issues. I i deleed his saus, i also would need o
exclude any sudens in his caegory rom he coun o oal enering sudens.
Excluding hese daa will no affec he overall compleion picure; deceased
sudens are almos always privacy suppressed, and i is common pracice odrop anyone who passed away rom graduaion rae cohors.33 And i his means
one ewer caegory ha migh resul in he need o suppress oher, more impor-
an oucomessuch as compleion or ranserhen removing he deceased
caegory would be worhwhile.
Improve the data download process
Te commimen o making all he daa in he College Scorecard easily down-
loadable and accessible is criically imporan. o he Deparmen o Educaion’scredi, i made significan effors o help users access daa boh hrough download-
able spreadsheeswhich included he opion o secure he mos recen key indi-
caorsand he creaion o an applicaion programming inerace, or API, which
makes i easy o impor scorecard daa ino hird-pary applicaions and auomai-
cally updae figures i and when hey change. Te documenaion ha came wih
hese files was also invaluable or helping navigae such a wealh o daa.34
A he same ime, he basic srucure o he daa could be more user riendly.
Indicaors are sored in individual spreadshees grouped by he year he daa were
colleced. Te challenge wih his pracice is ha he daa or a given year may con-
ain inormaion on several differen cohors. For example, he 2011 file conains
earnings inormaion on hree differen earnings cohors, as well as repaymen rae
daa on hree oher cohors.35 Tus, puting ogeher he daa or a given cohor
means siching ogeher muliple large files.
Te deparmen could ake wo seps o make his process simpler. Ideally, i should
creae an inerace ha allows users o download selec indicaors or subses o
insiuions. For example, a user could access repaymen daa jus on public our-
year colleges. One way o do his would be o add he scorecard ino he ineraceha he deparmen already operaes or IPEDS.36 Te advanage o his approach
is ha researchers already know how o use his ool and i would cenralize daa. In
addiion, he scorecard already includes some indicaors rom IPEDS, so his would
jus mean adding in daa such as repaymen raes, earnings, compleion, and deb,
among ohers. I ha does no work, he deparmen could build a new inerace
jus or he scorecard, hough ha would ake more ime and resources.
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Alernaively, he deparmen could hink abou releasing daa in differen group-
ings. For insance, insead o releasing daa by collecion year, i could separaely
produce spreadshees grouped by cohor. Tis would allow users o ge daa on
jus he 2006 and 2007 repaymen cohors all in one place wihou having o draw
on muliple differen files.
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New indicators needed from
the Department of Education
Tis secion looks a wha oher daa or uncionaliy he deparmen could add
bu does no currenly have.
Provide more data on income-driven repayment usage
Income-driven repaymen plans are he mos imporan addiion o he suden
aid programs in he pas several years. Tese opions provide borrowers wih asaey ne o ensure ha heir paymens will no exceed cerain percenages o
heir income. A he same ime, excessive usage o hese plans could be a sign o
disressspecifically, ha borrowers are no earning enough money o avoid
needing help on heir paymens.
Unorunaely, he Deparmen o Educaion currenly provides minimal inorma-
ion abou he usage o income-driven repaymen plans. I discloses some daa
or he enire porolio abou how many borrowers and loan dollars are on one o
hese paymen plans bu nohing a he insiuional or programmaic level.37 Tis
is a significan inormaion gap or consumers and researchers. Knowing hese
kind o daa is paricularly imporan due o concerns raised abou he poenial
or misuse o income-driven plans.38 Wihou knowing more abou who is using
hese plans and wha colleges hey are atending, i can be hard o couner he
narraives criiquing income-driven repaymen, which could lead o congressional
changes ha make he plans less generous o people who need hem.
Te deparmen could address his inormaion gap by saring o provide daa
by cohor and insiuion on repaymen plan usage, including he Public Service
Loan Forgiveness Program. Tis would allow researchers and consumers o see which insiuions rely heavily on hese plans. I also would give poenial borrow-
ers a sense o wha ype o repaymen experience hey can expec.
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Report more loan performance data
In recen years, he Deparmen o Educaion has goten much beter abou
reporing daa on he overall suden loan porolio. Tis includes inormaion on
he volume o loans in repaymen, deermen, deaul, and oher caegories, as well
as breakdowns o he ype o paymen plan or direc loan borrowers. While hesedaa are exremely useul, he deparmen has no disclosed hem a he insiu-
ional level. Knowing more abou loan perormance by insiuion could help he
deparmen and he public spo poenially roubling deb behavior ha is no
capured by he exising cohor deaul rae accounabiliy meric.
Suggested improvements to indicatorsand disaggregates for College Scorecard data
Type of change Suggestions
Overall suggestions Disaggregate by program
Report results for graduate students
Break down results for branch campuses
Address data suppression
Repayment rates Use a true measure of repayment
Estimate total time to repay
Earnings Disaggregate by completion status
Disaggregate by year in which students leave school
Cumulative debt Align with repayment rate cohort
Completion Combine categories to lessen suppression
New loan measures Repayment plan usage
Share of borrowers who are 90 days late
Share of borrowers on forbearance
Parent PLUS loan outcomes
New enrollment measures Popular colleges, by high school
Popular high schools, by college
What Congress can do End the ban on a student-level data system
Source: CAP suggestions for improving the College Scorecard are based on analysis of U.S. Department of Education, “CollegeScorecard Data,” available at https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/ (last accessed January 2016).
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Tere are several addiional indicaors on loan perormance ha he deparmen
should release as well. In many cases, hese may only be available or direc loan
borrowers or oher ederal loans now held by he deparmen, which could limi
how ar back hey could go. In paricular, he agency should release daa abou he
usage o paymen opions known as deermens and orbearances, which allow
borrowers o sop making paymens wihou going ino deaul. I also shouldprovide daa on he percenage o sudens who are 90 or more days lae on a loan
paymen. Knowing he percenage o borrowers using one o hese ools o sop
paymens beore hey deaul would help ideniy colleges ha are being overly
aggressive in managing heir deaul raes. Imporanly, i he deparmen does
release deermen and orbearance daa, i should break down resuls by he ype
o paymen cessaion sough. Tis maters because no all orms o deermen
and orbearance are problemaic. For insance, borrowers who go back o college
receive an in-school deermen.39 Te delinquency daa, meanwhile, are helpul or
ideniying insiuions ha are likely o have repaymen problems in he uure.
Report outcomes for parent loans
While sudens make up he majoriy o borrowers, a large number o parens also
ake on ederal debs o help heir children pay or college. Tey do so hrough
somehing known as a Direc PLUS Loan or parens. Te ederal governmen,
however, provides no daa o help paren borrowers undersand he risks hey may
ace. I does no provide any inormaion on ypical deb levels o paren PLUS
borrowers,40 nor does i repor perormance daa on hese debs, such as deaul or
repaymen raes. Adding hese daa o he College Scorecard would ensure ha i
can be jus as useul a ool or parens as i is or sudens.
Report data on graduate students
Graduae sudens make up a subsanial share o suden loan borrowers. In
he 2014-15 award year, nearly 1.5 million graduae sudens received ederal
suden loans, abou 15 percen o all borrowers.41 While graduae sudens may
have beter repaymen oucomes han undergraduaes in general, hey also havehe abiliy o ake on much higher deb levels.42 A subsanial number o hem
also appear o be users o income-driven repaymen plans.43 As a resul, prospec-
ive sudens would be well served o know i a poenial large loan invesmen
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hey migh make is worh i. Given he wide range o differen ypes o graduae
educaion, his is an area where program-level oucomes would be paricularly
imporan. I also would represen an expansion o he scorecard beyond is cur-
ren ocus on jus undergraduae educaion.
Report data at the campus level
Te Deparmen o Educaion collecs daa on insiuions o higher educaion
rom wo major sources: he Inegraed Possecondary Educaion Daa Sysem or
daa on pricing, compleion, spending, and enrollmen, and he Naional Suden
Loan Daa Sysem or daa on he ederal suden aid programs. While each is
very useul, he wo, unorunaely, do no align perecly. Daa rom IPEDS end
o be repored a he campus level. So an insiuion such as he Universiy o
Phoenix shows up 38 differen imesonce or each sae in which i operaes.44
By conras, NSLDS daa ofen end o aggregae he resuls or muliple campusesunder a single indicaor. In he case o he Universiy o Phoenix, his means ha i
shows up as a single insiuion in he NSLDS daa.
Tis seup creaes a complicaed daa crosswalk ha means consumers hinking
abou atending one o he campuses ha rolls up all is daa canno see resuls or
he specific locaion hey are considering. Making maters worse, he daa roll-up
is no consisen. While he Universiy o Phoenix repors as a single school or
financial aid purposes, compeior chains such as Kaplan Universiy show up as
nearly 30 differen campuses.45 Alhough his issue is mos relevan a privae or-
profi colleges, i also occurs in he public secor. For insance, Pennsylvania Sae
Universiy combines he resuls o is main campus wih all o is branch cam-
puses. Tis means someone choosing beween he main Penn Sae campus and
Michigan Sae Universiy canno see apples-o-apples comparisons.
Te deparmen has he abiliy o fix his problem. o address his issue, i should
adop common insiuional idenifiers or boh IPEDS and NSLDS. Moreover,
hose indicaors should be a he campus level. Colleges ha offer an online learn-
ing componen should have he abiliy o repor heir online campus as a separae
locaion. Breaking ou resuls in his manner would ensure ha consumers gedaa disaggregaed o he proper level ha helps hem make inormed choices. I
also would reduce conusion abou wheher resuls presened may be covering he
experiences o sudens atending schools housands o miles away.
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Tis change will ake some work. Righ now he idenifier used or NSLDS comes
rom a documen known as a Program Paricipaion Agreemen.46 Tis orm can
cover muliple campusesas is he case wih he Universiy o Phoenix. So i
could require insiuions o sar signing several documens when previously hey
had o sign only one. I also would mean clearly defining wha consiues anoher
campus, raher han jus a place where a course or wo may be augh.
Te curren numbering sysem or idenifiers provides one opion or resolving
his issue. Te NSLDS idenifier is currenly repored as six or eigh digis. In
mos cases, he las wo digis o he eigh-number idenifier represen a branch
campus. For insance, he eigh-digi idenifier or Ohio Sae Universiy’s main
campus is 00309000, while is Lima campus is 00309001 and he Newark campus
is 00309004.47 Each o hese campuses already has a unique idenifier or IPEDS,
so reporing daa as he eigh-digi idenifier or NSLDS should in mos cases have
an easy crosswalk o he IPEDS daa. Alernaively, colleges could be required
o ideniy which o he campuses under he eigh-digi idenifiers are branchcampuses versus smaller learning sies. Tis is somehing hey likely already have
o do anyway or heir accrediaion agencies.48 Forunaely, he Deparmen o
Educaion already appears o be moving somewha in his direcion by ensuring
ha more insiuions repor heir enrollmen and financial aid daa ino NSLDS
a he more granular campus level.49
Allow for data correction
A subsanial amoun o he scorecard daa comes rom insiuional repor-
ing. Even or indicaors such as repaymen raes or earnings, which come rom
NSLDS, he Deparmen o Educaion sill relies on colleges or grouping sudens
ino caegories such as “graduaed” or “wihdrew.” Errors are ineviable wih so
many colleges, indicaors, and years o daa. In oher cases, daa qualiy may suffer
because some indicaors were no always necessary or operaional purposes. For
insance, insiuions did no have o repor he compleion saus o Pell Gran
recipiens unil 2012.50 As a resul, he qualiy o older compleion daa on Pell
Gran recipiens is poor.
Realisically, i is no easible or he deparmen o go back o every insiuion
and ask hem o fix heir daa going back wo decades. Doing so would be very
ime consuming or he governmen and schools and is probably no worh he
resource commimen. Individual insiuions, however, may wish o fix resuls
ha hey see as major problems, or hey may decide ha heir daa need o be
grouped differenly, such as o show resuls by program wihin he insiuion.
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o help insiuions ha wan o correc heir daa, he deparmen should offer a
volunary daa improvemen process. I would provide insrucions or how col-
leges could updae heir inormaion i hey wished o and promise o rerun any
resuls once up-o-dae daa are enered. I also could urher assis insiuions
by providing hem wih he rosers o sudens used o creae cohors or differen
merics. Tis process should no be paricularly burdensome or he deparmen,since he colleges will be doing mos o he work. And i would no creae a lo
o burden or colleges since only hose insiuions mos concerned abou heir
resuls would choose o ake par.
Avoid relying on student-reported level in college
Because he Deparmen o Educaion only has individual-level daa on people who
received ederal suden aid, i someimes has o guess wha year a suden enered
college. Tis occurs when sudens do no receive ederal aid in heir firs year buend up receiving i laer in heir college career. Relying on a suden’s year in college
o make judgmens abou wha cohor hey should coun in makes sense. However,
he scorecard figures his ou using daa sel-repored by he suden when hey fill
ou a Free Applicaion or Federal Suden Aid, or FAFSA.51 Te problem, however,
is ha sudens may no correcly know heir year in college and repor incorrec
daa. For insance, his migh be because a suden has been enrolled or a year bu
has no compleed enough credis o advance and incorrecly hinks ime spen is
enough o move up a level. Tis can lead o sudens geting atached o he wrong
cohors or he purposes o measuring compleion, poenially affecing esimaes
o ime o degree or he atainmen rae.
Te deparmen’s analysis released wih he scorecard showcased he exen
o which sudens are no accuraely lising heir year in college. o assess he
accuracy o his variable, he deparmen compared is esimaes o he firs year in
college or sudens in Virginia wih similar inormaion held by he Sae Council
o Higher Educaion or Virginia, or SCHEV, which mainains one o he bes
higher educaion daa sysems in he counry. O he Virginia sudens ha he
deparmen hough sared in 2008, only 70 percen acually firs enered college
in ha year, according o he SCHEV daa.52
In general, he deparmen’s daa were no off by a lo18 percen o Virginia sudens enered college in eiher he
wo years prior o or afer 2008bu ha is sill a significan number o sudens
placed ino he wrong cohor.53
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Insead o coninuing o rely on suden-repored daa o assign college level, he
deparmen should insead ge his inormaion rom insiuions. Obaining hese
daa going orward should no be hard; colleges already repor hem o he depar-
men in a differen daabase called he Common Originaion and Disbursemen
Sysem.54 Unorunaely, he daa will be o lesser qualiy or older years because
he deparmen only sared requiring more inormaion on Pell Gran recipiensin 2012, and i is no reroacive.55 Alhough hese daa may sill have imperecions
due o complexiies o when inormaion is repored, insiuions have a much
greaer reason or geting his inormaion righ since a suden’s level in college
affecs how much hey can borrow and annual audiors will come in o check ha
sudens received he proper amoun o aid dollars.56 By conras, sudens who
incorrecly repor heir college level on he FAFSA ace minimal consequences.
Report data that is useful for high school counselors
One o he Deparmen o Educaion’s saed goals wih he scorecard is o pro-
vide daa ha can help sudens make sound college choices. For many sudens,
paricularly younger ones coming sraigh rom high school, he possecondary
search and selecion process can be srongly influenced by heir college coun-
selors. Depending on he sae in which hey work and live, hese counselors
may no have much inormaion on where heir sudens go or how hey are in
possecondary educaion.
Ulimaely, i would be ideal i he deparmen could ell high school coun-
selors how heir ormer sudens ared in college, eiher a he individual level
or a leas by insiuion. Bu i hose daa are no available now, he depar-
men could sar by reporing where sudens commonly enroll by high school
and rom where insiuions ypically draw heir sudens. Tis would mean
reporing or each high school he five or so mos commonly atended colleges.
Similarly, he deparmen also could repor by college he five or so high schools
ha sen he larges numbers o sudens o a paricular insiuion. Tese iniial
daa could sar he conversaion abou where high schools are sending sudens
and where insiuions are finding hem.
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26 Center for American Progress | Scoring the College Scorecard
What Congress can do to
improve the College Scorecard
While here is much ha he Deparmen o Educaion can do o improve he
scorecard, here is one major srucural challenge ha only Congress can fix:
he Deparmen o Educaion’s inabiliy o collec daa on sudens who did no
receive ederal financial aid.
For mos indicaors, only having daa on ederal aid recipiens works. I is no
necessary o know abou sudens who did no ge ederal suppor in order o
generae deb esimaes or repaymen raes. Bu no knowing abou all college su-dens can depress compleion raes and earnings daa significanly. In paricular,
many colleges may only have a minoriy o sudens who receive ederal financial
aid, ensuring ha he scorecard resuls o hese insiuions are no represena-
ive. Moreover, i he scorecard is viewed as nonrepresenaive i may undermine
consumers’ accepance o i and make i harder o achieve is goals.
Te deparmen needs congressional approval o include sudens who did
no receive ederal financial aid in he scorecard daa. Tis is because o a 2008
congressional provision ha bans he Deparmen o Educaion rom collec-
ing daa or operaing a new daabase o suden-level inormaion.57 Also known
as he “suden uni record ban,” his law prevens he deparmen rom geting
he daa i needs on individuals who did no receive ederal aid. Overurning
his prohibiion would make i possible o presen more complee and accurae
picures o perormance a all colleges.
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27 Center for American Progress | Scoring the College Scorecard
Conclusion
Te College Scorecard is a crucial developmen in higher educaion daa policy. Tis
is because i opens he door o housands o daa indicaors ha were previously
unavailable o he public and he governmen. Is mach wih Deparmen o he
reasury daa o generae earnings figures and a ransparen manner o posing and
sharing he daa are examples o how governmen agencies can work well ogeher
and uncion. Te scorecard is o be lauded or all o hese accomplishmens.
Ye he Deparmen o Educaion mus ensure ha he curren ieraion o heCollege Scorecard is jus he beginning and no he end o ha daa improvemen
process. As laid ou in his repor, here are several fixes o is exising indicaors and
new measures ha he Deparmen o Educaion should address going orward.
Doing so will ensure ha prospecive sudens, parens, and researchers have he
bes daa possible. Te resul will be no only smarer amily decision-making bu
also an enhanced abiliy o analyze and assess he resuls o America’s possecondary
sysem o ensure ha all sudens have access o a high-qualiy college educaion.
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28 Center for American Progress | Scoring the College Scorecard
About the author
Ben Miller is he Senior Direcor or Possecondary Educaion a he Cener or
American Progress.
Acknowledgments
Te auhor would like o hank he reviewers who ook ime o read and offer
houghul eedback on his repor.
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29 Center for American Progress | Scoring the College Scorecard
Endnotes
1 The public tool only reports data for about 4,000colleges—those that offer at least one associate orbachelor’s degree. This figure reflects downloadabledata, not the public tool. This includes both main andbranch campuses. Not all variables are available forevery year, and branch campuses tend to have dataidentical to those of their main campuses on indicatorssuch as repayment rates and earnings. See U.S. Depart-ment of Education, “College Scorecard Data,” availableat https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/ (last accessedJanuary 2016).
2 Clare McCann and Amy Laitinen, “College Blackout”(Washington: New America, 2014), available at https://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFI-NAL.pdf .
3 U.S. Department of Education, “Federal Student AidData Center,” available at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/data-center (last accessed February 2016).
4 Center for American Progress analysis of College Score-card data from U.S. Department of Education, “CollegeScorecard Data.”
5 Bryan Cook, “Incomplete Completers: Analysis ofa Comprehensive Graduation R ate” (Washington:American Council on Education, 2012), available athttps://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Grad-Rate-110812.pdf .
6 The exceptions to this are students who leave school toserve in the armed forces, those who die or have a totaland permanent disability, and other similar instances.See National Center for Education Statistics, “2005Graduation Rates for 4-Year Institutions,” available athttps://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisForms.aspx?survey=2&form=83&index=0&ri=0&show=all&instid=485 (last accessed February 2016).
7 Doug Shapiro and others, “Completing College: ANational View of Student Attainment Rates – Fall 2009Cohort” (Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse,2015), p. 25, available at https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/SignatureReport10.pdf .
8 Letter from The Institute for College Access and Successto Interested Parties, “Steps the Education Depart-ment Should Immediately Take to Curb Default RateManipulation,” August 21, 2012, available at http://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub_files/TICAS_memo_on_CDR_evasion_082112.pdf.
9 Executive Office of the President, Using Federal Data toMeasure and Improve the Performance of U.S. Institutionsof Higher Education (2015), p. 23, available at https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/UsingFederalDataTo-MeasureAndImprovePerformance.pdf.
10 Since Pell Grant reporting has only been availablesince July 2012, the department relied on the NationalStudent Clearinghouse, a private organization, tosupplement some of the Pell Grant data on thescorecard. For an example of how hard it is to get Pell
Grant graduation rates, see Kevin Carey and AndrewKelly, “The Truth Behind Higher Education DisclosureLaws” (Washington: Education Sector and AmericanEnterprise Institute, 2011), available at http://www.thecollegesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HigherEdDisclosure_RELEASE.pdf.
11 See, for example, Christopher Nelson, “Salary Isn’tthe Only Measure,” Inside Higher Ed , September 14,2015, available at https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/09/14/essay-criticizes-obama-administra-tions-new-scorecard-colleges.
12 Rachel Fishman, “Deciding to Go to College” (Washing-ton: New America, 2015), p. 6, available at https://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/deciding-to-go-to-college.pdf .
13 Executive Office of the President, Using Federal Data toMeasure and Improve the Performance of U.S. Institutionsof Higher Education,” p. 24.
14 Figures estimated using a 10- and 20-year repaymentterm on a $10,000 balance and a 5 percent interest rateusing Amortization-calc.com, “Amortization ScheduleCalculator,” available at http://www.amortization-calc.com (last accessed January 2016).
15 This calculation would be more complicated if loanshad a variable interest rate, but this has not been thecase for federal loans for some time.
16 Federal Student Aid, “Income-Driven Plans,” available athttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-driven (last accessed February 2016).
17 Jenna Johnson, “Obama Signs Student Loan InterestRate Legislation Into Law,” The Washington Post , August9, 2013, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html.
18 David Herszenhorn and Tamar Lewin, “Student LoanOverhaul Approved by Congress,” The New York Times,March 25, 2010, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/politics/26loans.html.
19 Figures estimated using a $10,000 original balance, a5 percent interest rate and monthly payments of $75using Free-Online-Calculator-Use.com, “Missing Loan
Term Calculator for Calculating the Unknown Variable,”available at http://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/missing-term-loan-calculator.html(last accessedFebruary 2016).
20 Federal Student Aid, “Understanding Repayment,”available at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/
understand (last accessed February 2016).
21 U.S. Department of Education, Data Documentation (2015), p. 16, available at https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdf .
22 To make this issue work for students who only receivedPell Grants, the year they left school would be definedas whatever year falls six months after their date ofseparation. Doing so aligns Pell-only students with bor-rowers who do not enter repayment until exhaustingtheir grace period.
23 National Center for Education Statistics, “The Universityof Alabama: Graduation Rates, status as of August 31,2007,” available at https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacen-ter/ (last accessed January 2016).
24 Ibid.
25 Anthony Carnevale, Jeff Strohl, and Michelle Melton,“What’s It Worth?” (Washington: Georgetown UniversityCenter on Education and the Workforce, 2014), avail-able at https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/whatsitworth-complete.pdf .
26 Nicholas Hillman and Taylor Weichman, “EducationDeserts: The Continued Significance of ‘Place’ in the
Twenty-First Century” (Washington: American Councilon Education, 2016), available at http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdf .
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/https://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdfhttps://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdfhttps://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdfhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/data-centerhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/data-centerhttps://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/GradRate-110812.pdfhttps://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/GradRate-110812.pdfhttps://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisForms.aspx?survey=2&form=83&index=0&ri=0&show=all&instid=485https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisForms.aspx?survey=2&form=83&index=0&ri=0&show=all&instid=485https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/SignatureReport10.pdfhttps://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/SignatureReport10.pdfhttp://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub_files/TICAS_memo_on_CDR_evasion_082112.pdfhttp://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub_files/TICAS_memo_on_CDR_evasion_082112.pdfhttp://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub_files/TICAS_memo_on_CDR_evasion_082112.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/UsingFederalDataToMeasureAndImprovePerformance.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/UsingFederalDataToMeasureAndImprovePerformance.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/UsingFederalDataToMeasureAndImprovePerformance.pdfhttp://www.thecollegesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HigherEdDisclosure_RELEASE.pdfhttp://www.thecollegesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HigherEdDisclosure_RELEASE.pdfhttp://www.thecollegesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HigherEdDisclosure_RELEASE.pdfhttps://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/09/14/essay-criticizes-obama-administrations-new-scorecard-collegeshttps://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/09/14/essay-criticizes-obama-administrations-new-scorecard-collegeshttps://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/09/14/essay-criticizes-obama-administrations-new-scorecard-collegeshttps://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/deciding-to-go-to-college.pdfhttps://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/deciding-to-go-to-college.pdfhttps://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/deciding-to-go-to-college.pdfhttp://www.amortization-calc.com/http://www.amortization-calc.com/https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-drivenhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-drivenhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/politics/26loans.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/politics/26loans.htmlhttp://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/missing-term-loan-calculator.htmlhttp://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/missing-term-loan-calculator.htmlhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understandhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understandhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdfhttps://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/whatsitworth-complete.pdfhttps://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/whatsitworth-complete.pdfhttp://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdfhttp://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdfhttp://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdfhttp://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdfhttp://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdfhttp://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdfhttp://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdfhttp://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/Education-Deserts-The-Continued-Significance-of-Place-in-the-Twenty-First-Century.pdfhttps://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/whatsitworth-complete.pdfhttps://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/whatsitworth-complete.pdfhttps://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdfhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understandhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understandhttp://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/missing-term-loan-calculator.htmlhttp://www.free-online-calculator-use.com/missing-term-loan-calculator.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/politics/26loans.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/politics/26loans.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-signs-student-loan-interest-rate-legislation-into-law/2013/08/09/98fb0426-00f2-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.htmlhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-drivenhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-drivenhttp://www.amortization-calc.com/http://www.amortization-calc.com/https://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/deciding-to-go-to-college.pdfhttps://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/deciding-to-go-to-college.pdfhttps://www.luminafoundation.org/files/resources/deciding-to-go-to-college.pdfhttps://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/09/14/essay-criticizes-obama-administrations-new-scorecard-collegeshttps://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/09/14/essay-criticizes-obama-administrations-new-scorecard-collegeshttps://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/09/14/essay-criticizes-obama-administrations-new-scorecard-collegeshttp://www.thecollegesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HigherEdDisclosure_RELEASE.pdfhttp://www.thecollegesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HigherEdDisclosure_RELEASE.pdfhttp://www.thecollegesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/HigherEdDisclosure_RELEASE.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/UsingFederalDataToMeasureAndImprovePerformance.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/UsingFederalDataToMeasureAndImprovePerformance.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/UsingFederalDataToMeasureAndImprovePerformance.pdfhttp://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub_files/TICAS_memo_on_CDR_evasion_082112.pdfhttp://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub_files/TICAS_memo_on_CDR_evasion_082112.pdfhttp://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub_files/TICAS_memo_on_CDR_evasion_082112.pdfhttps://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/SignatureReport10.pdfhttps://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/SignatureReport10.pdfhttps://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisForms.aspx?survey=2&form=83&index=0&ri=0&show=all&instid=485https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisForms.aspx?survey=2&form=83&index=0&ri=0&show=all&instid=485https://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/GradRate-110812.pdfhttps://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Documents/GradRate-110812.pdfhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/data-centerhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/data-centerhttps://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdfhttps://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdfhttps://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdfhttps://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/
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30 Center for American Progress | Scoring the College Scorecard
27 U.S. Department of Education, “150% Direct SubsidizedLoan Limit—Frequently Asked Questions: FTB-Q1,”available at http://ifap.ed.gov/150PercentDirectSubsidizedLoanLimitInfo/FAQ.html#FTB-Q1 (last accessedFebruary 2016); U.S. Department of Education, “WilliamD. Ford Direct Loan Program; Interim Final Rule,” FederalRegister 78 (95) (2013), available at https://ifap.ed.gov/fregisters/FR051613DLProgramInterimFinalRule.html.Although the requirement that limits eligibility forsubsidized loans to 150 percent of a program’s lengthonly applies to new borrowers as of July 1, 2013, thedepartment requires the data reported for anyone bor-
rowing after that date.
28 To do this, the department would be measuring thosewho entered repayment in 2014 by their results in 2015and the results for the 2015 cohort in 2016.
29 U.S. Department of Education, Cohort Default RateGuide (2015), p. 16, available at http://ifap.ed.gov/De-faultManagement/guide/attachments/CDRMasterFile.pdf.
30 Analysis of the 2009 file from U.S. Department ofEducation, “College Scorecard Data.”
31 Ibid.
32 National Center for Education Statistics, “James H.Faulkner State Community College: Graduation Rates,status as of August 31, 2001,” available at https://nces.
ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/(last accessed January 2016).
33 National Center for Education Statistics, “200% Gradu-ation Rates for 2-Year Institutions,” available at https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisForms.aspx?survey=2&form=83&index=0&ri=0&show=all&instid=485 (lastaccessed February 2016).
34 U.S. Department of Education, “Data Documentation,”(September 2015), available at https://collegescore-card.ed.gov/data/documentation/ (last accessedFebruary 2016).
35 Analysis of 2011 file from U.S. Department of Educa-tion, “College Scorecard Data.”
36 National Center for Education Statistics, “IPEDS DataCenter,” available at https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacen-ter/ (last accessed February 2016).
37 Federal Student Aid, “Federal Student Loan Portfolio,”available at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/student/portfolio (last accessed February 2016).
38 Jason Delisle and Alex Holt, “Safety Net or Windfall?”(Washington: New America, 2012), available at https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/2332-safety-net-or-windfall/NAF_Income_Based_Repayment.18c8a688f03c4c628b6063755ff5dbaa.pdf .
39 Federal Student Aid, “Deferment and Forbearance,”available at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/deferment-forbearance(last accessed February 2016).
40 Janet Lorin, “This Parent Trap Involves $71 Billion ofFederal Education Debt,” Bloomberg, December 18,2015, available at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-18/this-parent-trap-involves-71-bil-
lion-of-federal-education-debt.
41 Federal Student Aid Office, Award Year 2014-15 RecipientSummary (U.S. Department of Education, 2015), availableat https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/fsawg/datacenter/library/AidRecipientsSummary.xls .
42 Federal Student Aid, “Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans,”available at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized (last accessed February 2016).
43 Matthew Sessa, “Servicer Summit: Loan PortfolioBriefing Document,” Presentation at Federal StudentAid Servicer Summit, December 1, 2014, slide 36,
available at http://fsaconferences.ed.gov/conferences/library/2014/servicing/2014ServicingSummitPortfolioOverview.pdf .
44 College Navigator, “Search results: University of Phoe-nix,” available at https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=university+of+phoenix&s=all&ct=3&pg=1 (lastaccessed February 2016). Phoenix’s example is furthercomplicated by the fact that it recently aggregated itsIPEDS data to have one campus for each state in whichit operates, rather than one entry for each campus.
45 Analysis of U.S. Department of Education, “CollegeScorecard Data.”
46 Legal Information Institute, “34 CFR §668.14 – Programparticipation agreement.”, available at https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/668.14 (last accessed February2016).
47 College Navigator, “Search results: Ohio State University,”available at http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=ohio+state+university&s=all (last accessed February 2016).
48 See, for example, Middle States Commission on HigherEducation, “Branch campuses, additional locations,and other instructional sites,” available at http://www.msche.org/?Nav1=NEWS&Nav2=OTHER(last accessedFebruary 2016).
49 Executive Office of the President, Using Federal Data toMeasure and Improve the Performance of U.S. Institutionsof Higher Education, p. 29.
50 Institute for Higher Education Policy, “National StudentLoan Data System (NSLDS)” (2015), p. 2, available athttp://www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/posts-ecdata/docs/resources/nslds_final.pdf .
51 Executive Office of the President, Using Federal Data toMeasure and Improve the Performance of U.S. Institutionsof Higher Education, p. 23.
52 Ibid., p. 70.
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid., p. 22.
55 U.S. Department of Education, “William D. Ford DirectLoan Program; Interim Final Rule.”
56 Office of Inspector General, Audit Guide: Audits of Fed-eral Student Financial Assistance Programs at Participat-ing Institutions and Institution Servicers (U.S. Departmentof Education, 2000), pp. I–13, available at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/nonfed/sfgd2000.pdf.
57 McCann and Laitinen, “College Blackout.”
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