Students completing the FAFSA now have additional information when deciding which college they may want to attend.
In a December 8 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced the implementation of a new lower earnings indicator as part of the FAFSA. This indicator—effective December 7, 2025, and only applicable to first-year undergraduate students—provides students with additional information about the typical earnings of graduates from the colleges they are considering.
Students who have selected one or more schools with lower earnings will receive the notice after they have submitted the FAFSA.
In the announcement, the Department noted that earnings are just one of many factors to consider when looking at colleges and encourages students and families to use all resources available to them when making a decisions about postsecondary education.
The indicator identifies schools where the median earnings of graduates are lower than those of typical high school graduates in the same state, or lower than those of typical high school graduates nationally if the school primarily has out of state students.
Since the indicator appears only after a FAFSA form has been processed, this information will not affect FAFSA completion rates, ISIR processing, Title IV eligibility or participation, or Student Aid Index calculations, according to the Department.
The Department outlined in the announcement that, “The earnings indicator should not be interpreted as the Department passing normative judgment on what institutions are worthy of attendance, or the expected return on investment of attending a particular institution.” It went on to state, “Prospective borrowers should not rely on this data as a benchmark for what their likely post-graduation earnings will be.”
Data from the College Scorecard, with an adjustment for inflation to 2025 dollars, is used by the earnings indicator. The FSA Data Center includes the data used for the earnings indicator – StudentAid.gov/data-center/school/earnings. The data and the earnings indicator on the FAFSA Submission Summary will be updated as more recent earnings data is available.
