key Definitions

Average cost of attendance – Average net price for federal financial aid recipients after aid from the school, state and federal government (using the cost incurred by in-state students in the case of public schools).

Graduation rate – The completion rate for first-time, full-time students (within 150% of expected time to completion), pooled in two-year rolling averages and suppressed for small in size.

Median annual earnings – Median earnings of students who took federal loans,  are working and not enrolled 10 years after entry.

Typical student debt/Monthly payments – Median debt of completers and monthly repayment amounts expressed in 10-year monthly payments.

Learn more about the College Scorecard data here.

Tun Ratios

Income to debt ratio – The median earnings of students working and not enrolled 10 years after entry divided by the median debt of completers.  TUN found an average of 2.2 based on data of 3,352 schools.

Salary to tuition ratio – The median earnings of students working and not enrolled 10 years after entry divided by the average net price. TUN found an average of 3.1 based on data of 3,495 schools.

Liquidity ratio – The median monthly earnings of students working and not enrolled 10 years after entry/Median debt of completers expressed in 10-year monthly payments. TUN found an average of 18.2 based on data of 3,352 schools.

The TUN ratios are designed to help students and their families make better comparisons of higher education institutions.