U.S. Dept. of Education Ranks Worcester Colleges by Return on Investment

Thursday, September 17, 2015

GoLocalWorcester News Team

The U.S. Department of Education has released its college scorecard, which provides information on college costs, graduation, debt and post-college earnings.

The scorecard, which contains 171 megabytes worth of data, does not contain ratings of different schools. Instead, it is a large, searchable pool of data that allows students and families to see a huge amount of information about colleges and universities students are attending, or considering attending.

SEE SLIDES BELOW: Worcester's Colleges Ranked by Return on Investment

Students can enter the name of any college or university and instantly see the school's average annual cost, graduation rate, student earnings 10 years after entering a school, the percentage of first-generation students at a specific school and the percentage of students who repay at least a dollar of principal on their federal student loans without three years.

According to the Department of Education website, the scorecard is designed to allow all students a better understanding of the decision of where to attend school.

“Despite the importance of these decisions, students, especially those who are low-income or first-generation, often lack clear, easy-to-use, and accessible information,” the site reads. “Research shows that when students have better information, they make better choices about their education. When choosing a college, students need information on college quality to know whether their investment in higher education will pay off.”