Updated March 2026 · College Scorecard data
College ROI Trend Reports
The latest cycle skews negative: 1 reports flag programs with declining ROI versus 0 improving and 1 aggregate snapshots — a signal that debt is outpacing earnings growth in several fields this year. Reports cover 2,202 schools and 30,224 school + major combinations, with average debt of $26K and average first-year earnings of $58K.
What’s Driving College ROI Right Now
The dominant national signal of the past several College Scorecard cycles is bifurcation: a relatively small set of high-demand fields — software engineering, nursing, the engineering disciplines, applied math — keep posting earnings growth that outpaces debt growth, while a longer tail of programs sees either flat earnings or accelerating debt that pulls the ROI score down. Trend reports surface both ends of that distribution so prospective students can see exactly which programs are gaining ground and which are losing it.
Aggregate trends are also shaped by federal policy. Repayment plan changes, loan-forgiveness program shifts, and Pell-grant adjustments all alter the effective net price of a degree. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes the most accessible plain-English summaries of those changes; for the raw data behind the scoring, the College Scorecard remains the primary federal source.
Top 5 Majors by Avg ROI Score
- Statistics97/100
- Computer Programming96/100
- Data Processing96/100
- Computer Software and Media Applications95/100
- Computer and Information Sciences95/100
Bottom 5 Majors by Avg ROI Score
Browse All Trend Reports
Best College ROI
Schools and majors where graduates earn the most relative to their debt
Worst College Debt-to-Earnings Ratios
Programs where graduates owe the most relative to what they earn
How Trends Are Calculated
For each school + major combination, we recompute the 0–100 College ROI Score on every College Scorecard release and store the prior cycle for comparison. A trend report is generated when a meaningful share of programs in a slice (a major, a state, a school type) all move the same direction by more than a threshold (typically 5 score points). Improvement reports flag programs where debt-to-income or earnings-premium gains drove the score up; decline reports flag programs where debt growth or job-outlook deterioration pulled it down. Aggregate reports summarize the whole national distribution and do not require a cross-cycle comparison. Read the full methodology.
Programs at the Extremes
Top 5 School + Major Combinations
- Berea College · Computer and Information Sciences100/100
- Bethesda University · Computer and Information Sciences100/100
- Capitol Technology University · Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management100/100
- Capitol Technology University · Computer and Information Sciences100/100
- Capitol Technology University · Computer Programming100/100
Bottom 5 School + Major Combinations
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a College ROI trend report?
A trend report is a thematic slice of the underlying College Scorecard dataset — a curated list of school + major combinations that share a feature: rising earnings, falling debt, a fast-shrinking debt-to-income ratio, or the opposite. We currently publish 2 reports across improvement, decline, and aggregate snapshot types.
How is the ROI score behind these trends calculated?
Each school + major combination gets a 0–100 College ROI Score that weights debt-to-income (35%), earnings premium over a high-school diploma (25%), 10-year BLS job-growth outlook (20%), graduation rate (10%), and debt vs. the national average (10%). Movements in any of those underlying inputs flow through to the score and surface in trend reports.
Why do some majors trend down even when earnings rise?
Earnings growth alone is not enough — student debt has to grow more slowly. A program where median earnings rise 6% but median debt rises 12% will see its ROI score fall. Trend reports highlight this gap so families can spot programs where the debt curve has outrun the salary curve.
Where does the underlying data come from?
Every figure is sourced from federal public datasets — the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard for debt and earnings, IPEDS for graduation rates, and the BLS Employment Projections program for job-growth outlook. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes additional context on borrowing trends.
How often are these trend reports refreshed?
Trend reports are recomputed each time College Scorecard releases new data — typically once per year. The current dataset was last refreshed March 2026. Each underlying school and major page includes year-over-year detail so you can see when a number turned.
Sources: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, IPEDS, Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections. Borrower context: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. All federal datasets are public domain.
Last updated 2026-03-15 · 2,202 schools, 30,224 programs tracked.