College Costwise
What U.S. colleges actually cost after aid, and what their students actually earned. Every figure comes from the U.S. Department of Education, and every one carries its reporting period — because the numbers describe different years.
Colleges
6,243
Operating institutions in the federal data
Median net price
$10,143
Public institutions only · 1,795 reporting
Median earnings, 10 yrs out
$40,796
5,103 of 6,243 reporting (82%)
Median graduation rate
52%
2,260 of 6,243 reporting
Earnings by state
Median earnings ten years after entering college, by the state the institution sits in. Click any state to see its colleges. This measures the institution's location, not where graduates end up working — those differ, and the federal data does not track the latter.
$32,993$55,344
How to read these numbers
Net price, not sticker price
Tuition is the headline number. Net price — what students paid after grant aid — is the useful one, and it is usually far lower.
Coverage is not 100%
Not every college reports every figure, and small colleges are often exempt. Each number above shows how many institutions it is based on.
Every figure is dated
Tuition covers one year; the earnings figure describes students who entered over a decade ago. We label each one instead of implying they are current.
How to read this data
Short explanations of what each figure measures, which year it covers, and where it is easy to misread.
CostNet price vs. sticker price: the two numbers that matterTuition is the number colleges advertise. Net price is the number students actually paid. The gap between them is often tens of thousands of dollars a year — and it is the gap that decides whether a college is affordable.5 min read →OutcomesWhy the earnings figure describes students who enrolled years agoThe earnings number on a college page is not what graduates earn today. It describes people who started college roughly a decade ago. Here is why that lag is unavoidable, and what the number is still good for.4 min read →DataWhat "Not reported" means — and why it is not zeroA blank on a college page is not a bad result. It usually means the federal government did not have enough data to publish a reliable number. Treating a blank as zero is the single most common way to misread this data.4 min read →
Common questions
- Where do these cost and outcome figures come from?
- Why is the earnings figure for students who entered so long ago?
- Why is net price different from tuition?
- Why is net price shown by family income?
From the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard. Colleges report to the Department, which publishes the data. Every figure on this site is labelled with the period it covers.
Because earnings have to be measured years after students leave, and the federal data links tax records for specific entry cohorts. The ten-year figure currently describes students who entered around 2009–10, measured in 2022 dollars. We show the cohort year next to the number rather than hiding it.
Tuition is the sticker price. Net price is what students actually paid after grant and scholarship aid, averaged across everyone who received it. Net price is usually far lower than tuition — and it is the more useful number.
Because aid is need-based, so the average net price differs a lot depending on family income. A single average would be misleading for almost everyone. We show the five income bands the Department publishes.