Indiana Programs Against the Federal Earnings Threshold

Key numbers

What is Indiana's earnings threshold?

For undergraduate programs, $35,563: the median earnings of working adults aged 25 to 34 with only a high school diploma in Indiana, 2019 to 2023, in 2024 dollars. The national figure is $35,442. The College Scorecard displays $35,534 from the 2020 to 2024 survey file.

How many Indiana programs fall below the threshold?

45 of 1,111 Indiana programs with published four-year earnings, 4.1 percent, on current College Scorecard data, with 1,976 federally aided completers in 2024-25. 3,341 programs have no published earnings.

What does Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 199 do with the federal test?

From July 1, 2026, an Indiana public institution must ask the Commission for Higher Education for approval to continue a degree program that meets the federal definition of a low-earning outcome program, and must eliminate the program and its costs if approval is not granted (IC 21-18-9-10.7).

How to cite: Rowe, B. (2026). Indiana programs against the federal earnings threshold. Opportunity Data, version 2026-11-06. https://opportunitydata.org/earnings-accountability-indiana.html

How many Indiana programs fall below the earnings threshold?

The College Scorecard publishes four-year median earnings for 1,111 of 4,452 Indiana programs, 25 percent; the rest are suppressed for small cohorts or have no federally aided completers in the cohort years. Among the programs with published earnings, 45 fall below the earnings threshold assigned to their credential level, and 22 of the 45 are undergraduate certificates. They had 1,976 federally aided completers in 2024-25, of 58,242 in all Indiana programs with published earnings. The count uses the state or national column that the Department's out-of-state flag selects for each institution; under the state column alone it would be 44, under the national column alone 49, and on the Scorecard's 2020 to 2024 figures 46.

The Department's January 2026 file (PPD:2026) lists 37 Indiana programs below its thresholds, 16 degree programs and 21 certificates. 35 of them have published earnings in the October Scorecard file, and 35 of those fall below here as well; the other 2 (Purdue University Global, Non-Professional Legal Studies; Purdue University Global, Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services) have no matching row with earnings in the October file. Of the 10 further programs below here, 9 pass in the Department's file, whose thresholds were lower, and 1 is not in that file; program earnings are the same in both files.

Programs are counted at the main campus of each six-digit OPEID, by 4-digit CIP code and credential level, as the Scorecard reports them. Earnings are for completers who received federal aid, were working, and were not enrolled, in 2024 dollars. Title IV completers are from PPD:2026 (award year 2024-25); suppressed counts are treated as zero.

Which Indiana programs fall below the threshold?

All 45 programs, closest to the threshold first. Each row gives the program's median earnings four years after completion (2017-18 and 2018-19 completers, measured in 2022 and 2023), the threshold that applies, the gap, and the program's result on the Scorecard's 2020 to 2024 figures and in the Department's January 2026 file. The last column marks public degree programs, the programs Senate Enrolled Act 199 reaches if the institution is a state educational institution.

45 of 45 programs shown

Program names are the College Scorecard's 4-digit CIP titles; an institution's own program name can differ, and several institutions told Chalkbeat in February 2026 that they do not offer a degree under the CIP title the Department listed. "Not in file" means the program has no row in the Department's January file. The program file has every program in every state, including those that pass.

What does Indiana law do with the federal test? (SEA 199)

From July 1, 2026, an Indiana public institution must ask the Commission for Higher Education for approval to continue any degree program that meets the federal definition of a low-earning outcome program, and must eliminate the program and its costs if approval is not granted.

Senate Enrolled Act 199 of 2026, section 9, amends IC 21-18-9-10.7, which already required approval for degree programs below graduate-count minimums (an average over three years of ten graduates for associate's, fifteen for bachelor's, seven for master's, and three for education specialist and doctorate). The act adds a second trigger, joined by "or": the program "meets the definition of a low earning outcome program under the Higher Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1087d)." If the commission does not grant approval, "the state educational institution must eliminate: (1) the degree program; and (2) any costs associated with the degree program." The act includes an emergency clause; section 9 takes effect July 1, 2026. Section 8 separately directs the commission to evaluate accrediting agencies and report to the General Assembly by December 1, 2026.

Source: Senate Enrolled Act 199 (2026), enrolled text (SEA 199, CC 1), sections 8 to 11. The enrolled text's signature block is blank; the signing date of March 5, 2026 is from the National Conference of State Legislatures. The federal definition is a determination the Department of Education makes from 2027 onward, after two years below the threshold in three; the counts above are the public-data screen on this page, not determinations. Programs are counted as public by the College Scorecard's control field; whether every such institution is a "state educational institution" under IC 21-7-13-32 is not determined here.

Which fields and institutions have programs below the threshold?

Of the 45 programs below the threshold, 19 are in the cosmetology and massage therapy families, most of whose six-digit codes are on the delayed list. The rule delays the test for 20 six-digit CIP codes tied to tipped occupations until measured earnings fall in tax years covered by the federal tax treatment of tips, so the first countable year for those programs is at least one year later than for the rest (Table 5.22, 91 FR 40236). At least one program below the threshold appears at 34 of the 73 Indiana institutions with published program earnings.

The eight fields with the most programs below the threshold; the other 4 are spread across further fields.

What the snapshot cannot say

• The cohorts are older than the first official cohort. The published earnings are for 2017-18 and 2018-19 completers measured in 2022 and 2023. The first official calculation uses 2020-21 completers measured in tax year 2025.
• 75 percent of Indiana programs have no published earnings. The Department will pool completers across years and across programs of equivalent length to reach 30, so programs absent from this record can still receive a result.
• One year below the threshold is not a failure. Loss of Direct Loan eligibility follows two years below the threshold in any three consecutive award years, after notice and appeal.
• The state or national column follows the Department's flag. The Department decides which applies from FAFSA addresses. This page applies the flag in the Department's PPD:2026 data file, built from 2017-18 and 2018-19 enrollees: 187 Indiana programs with published earnings are at institutions flagged as drawing most students from out of state and are measured against the national threshold. In Indiana the two high-school figures differ by $121.
• The survey years follow the earnings, as a choice. The figures here use the 2019 to 2023 ACS file, the latest ending in the last year the published earnings were measured; the rule does not fix the pairing. On the 2020 to 2024 figures the College Scorecard displays, 46 Indiana programs would be below rather than 45. The official calculation in 2027 will use a later file.
• 4 graduate programs with published earnings are in one-dollar fields. In 7 of 37 fields Indiana has fewer than 16 survey respondents with a bachelor's degree, including fields with none, and graduate programs in those fields pass at in-state-serving institutions under the rule.

On the current public record, 4.1 percent of Indiana programs with published earnings fall below the threshold. Of the 45, 22 are undergraduate certificates, 20 are at for-profit institutions (which have 39 programs with published earnings), and 19 are in the cosmetology and massage families where the test is largely delayed.

Versioning and next validation

Version 2026-11-06. Sources: College Scorecard field-of-study file of October 15, 2026 and institution file of November 2, 2026; ACS 2019 to 2023 5-year public microdata in 2024 dollars; final rule, 91 FR 40136. Applied from the Department's PPD:2026 data file: the out-of-state flag and Title IV completers. Compared: the Department's own pass or fail flag. The November 5 version applied the 2020 to 2024 figures (46 programs below); this version applies the 2019 to 2023 figures that match the earnings years (45). Next: the draft and final earnings data the Department has said it will publish in 2027. The state-law section quotes the enrolled text of Senate Enrolled Act 199. Opportunity Data is an independent research platform; this analysis was produced without external funding or client sponsorship.

Methods and sources

Read the methodology note (PDF)

Data files (CSV, free, CC BY 4.0): every program's result, all states; counts by state, credential level, and sector. Code: program screen (Python). Sources: Public Law 119-21; final rule, 91 FR 40136; College Scorecard data; ACS public use microdata.