OREANDA-NEWS. September 21, 2015. Institutions should take into account how the Department of Education calculates the Debt-to Earnings ratio and should take the necessary steps to make sure their calculations are accurate. The Department of Education will be providing institutions with lists of students that will be included in the Gainful Employment program later in 2015. Institutions will then have 45 days to provide their median debt for each program. Student debt information includes private, institutional debt and Title IV debt for relevant cohorts of graduates.*

Institutions will have two options to appeal inaccurate or under-reported earnings that the Department of Education will gather from the Social Security Administration when the Debt-to Earnings rates are final.

Many institutions are using data that is outdated or not completely accurate, such as student surveys. To better understand program risk, institutions should consider third-party verified data sources.

The Work Number, a service of Equifax Workforce Solutions (a business unit of Equifax, Inc.), helps academic institutions to validate and monitor critical placement (employment) and earnings metrics—thereby assisting with seamless data collection and analysis, and providing capabilities to measure the impact of program enhancements on graduate outcomes. You can also use the findings from our graduate outcomes to market your programs ongoing.