FAFSA Lower Earnings List: 999 Schools Flagged, Down From 1,365

Key findings

1. 999 of 4,948 schools with an earnings figure (20.2%) are flagged "lower earnings" in the Department's March 2026 release, the one the FAFSA uses now. The December 2025 release flagged 1,365 of 4,939 (27.6%).
2. 885 schools are flagged in both releases. 480 came off: 378 now clear the benchmark, 56 have no earnings figure in March, and 46 are not in the March list at all.
3. 114 schools were added: 92 had no earnings figure in December, 16 were above the benchmark then, and 6 were not listed.
4. Many that came off cleared the bar narrowly. Of the 378 now above the benchmark, 177 are above it by less than $2,000 a year and 76 by less than $1,000; the median margin is $2,123.
5. The benchmark moved as well as the colleges. The national high school median the Department compares against is $34,635 in the March 2026 release (January 2026 dollars) against $35,490 in December (June 2025 dollars), lower even though it is stated in later dollars, and the state benchmark is lower in 42 of 52 jurisdictions. Coming off the list is therefore not evidence, on its own, that graduates earn more.
6. By sector: 829 of 1,132 for-profit schools with programs under two years are flagged (73.2%), 9 of 259 for-profit four-year schools (3.5%, down from 43), 34 of 1,160 private nonprofit four-year colleges (2.9%), 8 of 785 public two-year colleges, and none of 823 public four-year colleges.
7. The states with the most flagged schools are California 103, Texas 84, Florida 74, New York 57, Pennsylvania 43. The largest falls since December are Texas (119 to 84), Florida (107 to 74), California (132 to 103).
8. Of the 3,369 institutions with a CampusPin profile in the Department's list, 69 are flagged, 3,052 are not, and 248 have no earnings figure. Each profile now shows its status with the Department's figures; 165 changed status between the two releases.

For each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico: schools with an earnings figure in the March 2026 release, how many are flagged "lower earnings" now and how many were in December 2025, how many were added and came off, and the high school earnings benchmark the Department uses for schools compared within the state.

Every flagged school, by state

The 999 schools flagged in the Department's March 2026 release, and the 480 flagged in December 2025 that are not flagged now. Names are as the Department lists them; a linked name opens the school's CampusPin profile. Schools compared with the national median rather than the state one are listed under their own state.

Questions families ask

How many schools are on the FAFSA lower earnings list?

999 of the 4,948 schools with an earnings figure (20.2%) in the Department of Education's March 2026 release, which is the list the FAFSA uses now, including on the 2027-28 form. The December 2025 release, which most news coverage reported, flagged 1,365 of 4,939 (27.6%).

Did the FAFSA lower earnings list change since December 2025?

Yes. On 22 March 2026 the Department replaced the December 2025 data with a newer group of graduates (completers of 2017-18 and 2018-19, earnings measured in 2022 and 2023) and a re-estimated high school benchmark, at the same download address. The number of flagged schools fell from 1,365 to 999: 480 came off and 114 were added.

Does the lower earnings notice affect my financial aid?

No. The Department says the notice is informational only. It does not affect your eligibility for federal aid, your Student Aid Index, or how your FAFSA is processed, and you can still list and attend a flagged school.

Which states have the most schools flagged for lower earnings on the FAFSA?

In the March 2026 release: California 103, Texas 84, Florida 74, New York 57, Pennsylvania 43. The largest falls since December 2025 are Texas (119 to 84), Florida (107 to 74), California (132 to 103). Schools compared with the national median are counted under their own state. Every state's count now and in December, with the schools named, is in the state list on this page and in the CSV.

Which colleges came off the FAFSA lower earnings list?

480 schools flagged in December 2025 are not flagged in the March 2026 release: 378 now clear the benchmark, 56 no longer have an earnings figure and 46 are not in the March list at all. Each one is named under its state on this page, with the reason. Coming off is not by itself evidence that graduates earn more, because the benchmark and the graduating cohort changed too.

Are any public universities on the FAFSA lower earnings list?

No public four-year college is flagged in the March 2026 release: none of the 823 with an earnings figure (4 were flagged in December 2025). 8 of 785 public two-year colleges are flagged (25 in December), and 11 of 197 public institutions whose programs are shorter than two years.

What share of schools flagged for lower earnings are for-profit?

92.5%: 924 of the 999 schools flagged in the March 2026 release are for-profit (IPEDS sector). 829 of them are for-profit schools whose programs are shorter than two years, and 704 of all flagged schools have names that identify them as beauty, cosmetology, barbering, hair, nail or esthetics schools.

What does "Some of Your Selected Schools Show Lower Earnings" mean on the FAFSA?

It means at least one school on your FAFSA is one the Department of Education designates "lower earnings": its graduates' median earnings four years after completing are below those of typical high school graduates aged 25 to 34 in its state, or nationally for a school that mostly enrolls out-of-state students or operates in several states. Selecting the notice shows the earnings for every school you listed and lets you change your list.

Who sees the lower earnings notice?

Only students who say they are first-year undergraduates, and only after the FAFSA has been processed. Graduate students and continuing undergraduates do not see it.

Why is a school I read about in December no longer flagged?

On 22 March 2026 the Department replaced the data with a newer group of graduates (2017-18 and 2018-19) and a re-estimated high school benchmark. 378 schools now clear the benchmark, 56 no longer have an earnings figure and 46 are no longer listed. Because the benchmark changed too, coming off the list does not on its own mean graduates earn more.

Does a flag mean my program will pay less?

Not necessarily. The figure is one median for all of a school's graduates who received federal aid, and the Department says earnings vary by degree and program and are not reflected. It also says the data should not be read as a prediction of what any individual will earn.

Why do some schools show no notice and no figure?

The Department leaves out schools with no published median earnings for the graduating cohort it uses, schools that award only graduate credentials, and schools in several U.S. territories. No figure means no notice, but it is an absence of data rather than a pass.

How do I check a specific school?

Open its CampusPin profile: the Cost & Financial Aid section says whether the FAFSA flags it and gives the Department's figures. Or open your state in the list above, which also shows schools that came off since December.

Methodology

Federal Student Aid publishes the designation for every institution as one spreadsheet, "Earnings Data for Postsecondary Institutions", on its Data Center (studentaid.gov/data-center/school/earnings). CampusPin downloaded the current file, the March 2026 release, on 24 September 2026. The December 2025 release was overwritten at the same address; CampusPin retrieved it from the Internet Archive's copy of 17 December 2025 and checked that it reproduces the counts published at the time: 1,365 nationally, 132 in California and 27 in North Carolina.

The rule is the Department's. A school is flagged when the median earnings of its undergraduate completers four years after graduating (those who received federal aid, were working and were not enrolled) are below the median earnings of high school graduates aged 25 to 34 with positive earnings in the same state. A school with locations in several states, or with more than half of its first-year students from out of state, is compared with the national median instead.

The two releases measure different people. December: completers of 2014-15 and 2015-16, earnings measured in 2019 and 2020, benchmarks from the 2019 and 2020 American Community Survey, in June 2025 dollars. March: completers of 2017-18 and 2018-19, earnings measured in 2022 and 2023, benchmarks from the 2023 American Community Survey (which, unlike December's, counts self-employment income), in January 2026 dollars.

CampusPin copies every flag, earnings figure and benchmark verbatim, joins the two releases on the IPEDS UNITID, and checks every flag against the figures beside it (all agree in both files). It adds the IPEDS sector of each institution from the federal directory (HD2025, else HD2023) and counts. Nothing is recomputed, imputed or re-thresholded, and the two releases' dollar figures are never subtracted from each other.

The count of beauty and personal-care schools is a match on institution NAMES (beauty, cosmetology, barber, hair, nail, esthetic, salon, spa, makeup, and the Aveda and Paul Mitchell school networks). Every match in the current release was read by hand; it is a lower bound, since a school named only for its founder is missed.

Every figure on this page is computed from the committed snapshot by scripts/build-fafsa-earnings.mjs; none is entered by hand, and --validate re-derives all of them.