The U.S. Education Department (ED) announced on Tuesday that it has revamped the College Scorecard, its online tool to help students make informed decisions about their education options after high school.
The site now includes information on 2,100 non-degree granting institutions (institutions that only award certificates). Adding these institutions gives prospective students a more complete sense of all their postsecondary options, ED said. Previously, the site had profiles for about 3,700 degree-granting institutions.
The Scorecard now also includes information on graduation rates for non-first-time and non-full-time students and the percentage of students who transferred or were still enrolled in school. Previously, the site only presented graduation rates for first-time, full-time students, who may not be representative of all students at many institutions, the department said.
The department also released preliminary information on student loan debt by field of study (with ED stressing that the data is preliminary). Until now, the Scorecard has provided undergraduate loan debt information for only the institution level, even though the amount borrowed to attend school can vary significantly depending on which program the borrower is enrolled.
“Institutions are being asked to update their historical enrollment data from which these loan debt metrics are derived,” according to a department press release. “These adjustments will be reflected in a subsequent release of loan debt data metrics by field of study this fall.”
