FAFSA to include post-graduate earnings data as new tool for college applicants

Now, the department says, families can also see how much a prospective student could expect to earn after graduating from a school. More detailed earnings income, such as salaries based on program of study, don’t appear to be available, according to the College Scorecard.

“Not only will this new FAFSA feature make public earnings data more accessible, but it will empower prospective students to make data-driven decisions before they are saddled with debt,” US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said.

Specifically, prospective students will get data on the median annual incomes for alumni 10 years after they entered college. Because the tool is linked to FAFSA data, only earnings from alumni who received federal aid are included, according to the online tool.

The earning indicator uses existing department data, and tells students a median income, as opposed to an average. (An average could skew higher than the median when accounting for million-dollar incomes).

The department said it created the tool because about 2 percent of college students attend institutions whose graduates earn less than a high school graduate on average.

“These same institutions receive upwards of $2 billion in Federal student aid annually,” the department said.

When students this winter fill out FAFSAs for schools with lower expected earnings, the form will generate a “lower earnings disclosure,” the DOE said.

“More than half of all Americans now say a college degree is not worth the price, and total outstanding student loan debt is approaching $1.7 trillion. Families deserve a clearer picture of how postsecondary education connects to real-world earnings,” McMahon said.

The department said the new tool is part of its broader strategy to “enhance transparency” in higher education.

Here are the median post-graduate earnings for 20 Massachusetts colleges, according to the DOE’s College Scorecard:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $143,000

Babson College: $124,000

Boston College: $104,000

Harvard University: $102,000

Northeastern University: $93,000

Brown University: $93,000

College of the Holy Cross: $91,000

Wellesley College: $85,000

Boston University: $83,000

Tufts University: $83,000

Amherst College: $78,000

Brandeis University: $77,000

UMass Amherst: $72,000

UMass Dartmouth: $69,000

UMass Boston: $66,000

UMass Lowell: $65,000

Smith College: $64,000

Emerson College: $63,000

Clark University: $62,000

Mount Holyoke College: $58,000

Claire Thornton can be reached at claire.thornton@globe.com. Follow Claire on X @claire_thornto.