Select a state and college above to view value-added earnings results.
Under the Workforce Pell proposed rules, programs must show that graduates earn enough above the poverty line to justify tuition costs. What follows is not the exact federal value-added earnings calculation, but a best-available approximation using the best available public earnings data: PSEO from the U.S. Census Bureau. See the U.S. Department of Education guidance for the official methodology.
The test adjusts earnings for regional cost of living, subtracts 150% of the Federal Poverty Level, and compares the result to published tuition. Programs where value-added earnings exceed tuition pass. Read the technical note for full methodology and limitations.
This tool is built entirely from public federal data and is reproducible from the published sources. The data sources and versions, the two-step formula, why year-5 earnings stand in for the federal year-3 measure, how suppression removes two-thirds of programs from the test, the approximations behind each figure, and the replication steps are documented in a separate methodology note.
Read the methodology note (PDF) →
Primary sources: Census PSEO-E (earnings), BEA Regional Price Parities (cost-of-living adjustment), IPEDS (tuition). Full source list and versions are in the methodology note.
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