Education Department revamps College Scorecard

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Monday announced updates to the College Scorecard, a tool to help students weigh costs, future earnings and other factors when choosing institutions of higher education.

The revamp is part of the Department of Education’s focus on making college more accessible to a broader range of students.

“For so many students and families, the college search process can be overwhelming. But easily accessible, high-quality information about higher education institutions can help students determine which college or university is the best fit for them,” said Cardona in a statement. 

The College Scorecard will make more information available to school counselors and other stakeholders in education, while expanding and restoring some tools for students and their families. 

One major change is to restore institution-to-institution comparisons, allowing prospective students to compare colleges directly in terms of costs, graduation rates and post-college earnings. 

That tool had been removed during the Trump administration, as part of two much-touted changes to the Scorecard made under then-Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Under DeVos, additions were made to the Scorecard to increase transparency on issues like graduate earnings, but information on graduate performance by institution was removed, hurting prospective students’ ability to gauge low-performing institutions. 

Cardona’s reforms to the tool will restore that information for the first time since 2018. 

The tool will also break down data on institutions that have gaps in completion rates between white students and students of color, and allow prospective students to measure typical levels of graduate debt.

“The updated and enhanced College Scorecard shines a spotlight on affordability, inclusivity, and outcomes, over exclusivity and colleges that leave students without good jobs and with mountains of debt. This update reflects the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to ensuring students remain at the heart of the Department’s work,” said Cardona.