FAFSA lower earnings list
North Carolina schools on the FAFSA “lower earnings” list
14 schools in North Carolina are flagged "lower earnings" in the Department of Education's March 2026 release, the list the 2027-28 FAFSA uses, out of 144 North Carolina schools with an earnings figure. The December 2025 release, which earlier news coverage reported, flagged 27: 14 came off and 1 was added.
A North Carolina school is flagged when its graduates’ median earnings four years after completing are below $32,616, the median for North Carolina high school graduates aged 25 to 34 (March 2026 release, January 2026 dollars). A school that mostly enrolls out-of-state students or operates in several states is compared with the national median, $34,635, instead.
Data period: March 2026 release, completers of 2017-18 and 2018-19, earnings measured in 2022 and 2023. Nationally: 999 schools flagged now, 1,365 in December 2025. National report and method
Flagged in the March 2026 release (14)
Names as the Department lists them. A linked name opens the school’s CampusPin profile, which shows its earnings and benchmark.
- Alexander Paul Institute of Hair Design, new since December (had no figure)
- Beyond Measure Barbering Institute
- Center for Massage
- College of Wilmington
- Empire Beauty School-Charlotte
- Empire Beauty School-Concord
- Empire Beauty School-Pineville
- Empire Beauty School-West Greensboro
- Empire Beauty School-Winston-Salem
- Leons Beauty School Inc
- Paul Mitchell the School-Charlotte
- Paul Mitchell the School-Fayetteville
- Pinnacle Institute of Cosmetology
- Winston Salem Barber School
Flagged in December 2025, not now (14)
The reason is given for each. Because the benchmark and the graduating cohort changed too, coming off is not by itself evidence that graduates earn more.
- Aveda Institute-Chapel Hill, now above the benchmark
- Carolina College of Hair Design Inc, no earnings figure now
- Charlotte Christian College and Theological Seminary, no earnings figure now
- Elevate Salon Institute, not in the March 2026 list
- Gwinnett College, now above the benchmark
- Health And Style Institute, not in the March 2026 list
- Louisburg College, now above the benchmark
- Miller-Motte College-Fayetteville, now above the benchmark
- Miller-Motte College-Jacksonville, now above the benchmark
- Miller-Motte College-Raleigh, now above the benchmark
- Miller-Motte College-Wilmington, now above the benchmark
- Mitchells Academy, not in the March 2026 list
- Pamlico Community College, now above the benchmark
- Paul Mitchell the School-Raleigh, now above the benchmark
What the notice does and does not mean
- It is informational: it does not affect federal aid eligibility, and a flagged school can still be listed and attended.
- It describes a whole school, not a program. The Department says earnings differ by credential and field.
- It covers graduates who received federal aid and were working and not enrolled when earnings were measured.
- A school with no earnings figure shows no notice. That is an absence of data, not a pass.
Add the North Carolina FAFSA notice card to your website (counselors, college-access programs, schools)
Plain HTML with no script and no tracking: the state's flagged count, the previous release and the benchmark, with the notice's caveats and the source, linking back to this page and its full list of schools.
Questions about North Carolina
- How many North Carolina schools are on the FAFSA lower earnings list?
- 14 schools in North Carolina are flagged "lower earnings" in the Department of Education's March 2026 release, the list the 2027-28 FAFSA uses, out of 144 North Carolina schools with an earnings figure. The December 2025 release, which earlier news coverage reported, flagged 27: 14 came off and 1 was added. Every one is named on this page.
- Why did 14 schools in North Carolina come off the list?
- Of the 14 schools flagged in December 2025 and not now, 9 now clear the benchmark, 2 no longer have an earnings figure, 3 are not in the March 2026 list at all. The Department replaced the data on 22 March 2026 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, so coming off the list is not by itself evidence that a school's graduates earn more.
- What earnings benchmark are North Carolina schools compared with?
- $32,616: the median earnings of North Carolina high school graduates aged 25 to 34 in the March 2026 release, in January 2026 dollars. The December 2025 release used $32,286, in June 2025 dollars and from an earlier survey, so the two are not a like-for-like comparison. A school that mostly enrolls out-of-state students or operates in several states is compared with the national median instead, $34,635.
- Does the lower earnings notice affect financial aid?
- No. The Department says the notice is informational only. It does not affect eligibility for federal aid, the Student Aid Index or how the FAFSA is processed, and students can still list and attend a flagged school. It is shown only to first-year undergraduates.
More on North Carolina colleges
- All colleges in North Carolina: cost, admissions and outcomes
- The Borrowing Gap: where college costs more than a family can borrow
- How to fill out the FAFSA, step by step
Other states
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Sources, methodology & citation
Sources used across this page
Not every source informs every figure. Each data point draws on the source appropriate to it see the relevant section and the data dictionary for field-level provenance.
Federal Student Aid, FSA Data Center: Lower Earnings Data
The Department of Education’s institution-level earnings data and the "lower earnings" designation shown on the FAFSA Submission Summary (March 2026 release; the December 2025 release via the Internet Archive).
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard
Net price by income band, post-graduation earnings, and federal aid context.
IPEDS / NCES College Navigator
Federal enrollment, admissions, tuition, retention, and program data. Released annually with a 1–2 year lag.
Where a value is unavailable it is shown as unavailable, never as 0, free, or a negative judgment. Always confirm final details with the institution before applying.
Suggested citation
CampusPin. (2026). North Carolina schools on the FAFSA "lower earnings" list. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/research/fafsa-lower-earnings-colleges/north-carolina