Financial Value Transparency

Every Title IV program is identified by six-digit CIP plus credential level. Schools report enrollment, completion, withdrawal, cost, and debt data on those CIP programs. The Department matches completers to earnings and computes:

• Debt-to-earnings: median annual loan payment versus median earnings. Pass if payments are no more than 8 percent of annual earnings or 20 percent of discretionary earnings (earnings minus 150 percent of the poverty guideline for a single person).
• Earnings premium: median earnings of Title IV completers versus typical high-school completers ages 25–34 in the state’s labor force.

For a public university MBA, failing those tests does not turn off Direct Loans under the GE eligibility rule. It can put the program on the Department’s disclosure site and, for certificate and graduate programs with high debt, trigger a student acknowledgement before enrollment. DCL GEN-24-04 set most FVT/GE provisions for July 1, 2024, and put acknowledgements and the public disclosure website at July 1, 2026.

Example: CIP 52.0201 master’s at a nonprofit. Median debt service $8,000, median earnings $95,000. Annual D/E is 8.4 percent — fails the 8 percent annual test — but discretionary D/E may still pass. EP is an easy pass against a ~$31,000 high-school threshold. The program can look fine on EP and still be a high-debt graduate program the rule wants students to acknowledge.

Diploma title does not drive the file. Concentrations that share a CIP are one FVT program. A school that never participates in U.S. News can still owe FVT files.

GE uses the same math as an eligibility gate for certificate programs and for degrees at for-profits. FVT uses it as sunlight for everyone else. Media rankings use school-reported starting salaries or recruiter surveys. FVT uses Title IV completers and administrative earnings. Rankings are not FVT sources.

Yes, if the program is Title IV-eligible. Modality does not remove the CIP file. Unaccredited online providers that are not in Title IV have nothing to report under FVT.

For specified high-debt certificate and graduate programs, a prospective student must confirm they have viewed the Department’s information before the school can originate aid. GEN-24-04 put that duty at July 1, 2026.

No. FVT is a condition of Title IV participation. Rankings are optional surveys.

No. Accreditation is a recognized accreditor’s review. FVT is the Department publishing debt and earnings for programs already inside the aid system.