-21%
Undergraduate enrollment
Undergraduate enrollment fell 21% at City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College vs the 2018–2022 baseline (4.1k vs 5.3k).
Illinois · Public · Predominantly associate's
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College
Chicago, Illinois. 4,146 undergraduate students. 42 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College
Short-arc shifts (recent 3-year window), peer outliers, earnings trend breaks, completion drops, enrollment cliffs, and debt-to-earnings warnings — surfaced deterministically from the federal record. Multi-decade shifts are reported separately in the Long Arc section, since 25-year tuition drift isn't really an anomaly.
-100%
3-year cohort default rate
3-year cohort default rate at City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College fell 100% between 2021 and 2024 (3.9% → 0.0%).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. Illinois
Each tile compares this institution to the Illinois median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$36,531+24% · 6→10y
Illinois median $40,810$29,483
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry28.6%-3% · '97→'09
Illinois median 53.3%$4,537+121% · '97→'20
At program completion4,146-53% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS61.7%+34% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time—
latest cohort$4,380+177% · '00→'24
out-of-state $14,430SECTION 02 · EARNINGS HORIZONS
How earnings spread, 4 to 10 years after entry
Treasury tax-record earnings for federally aided students who first enrolled at this institution. Each point is a horizon from the most-recent vintage. Single median per horizon (no p25/p75 publishing).
Earnings widen with time post-entry. Selection: federal-aid recipients only — not all graduates.Methodology →
SECTION 03 · DEBT-TO-EARNINGS
What loans cost relative to earnings
Annual debt service as a share of median earnings 10 years after entry, computed under federal Direct loan terms (10-year fixed at 6%). The 8% line is the gainful-employment threshold from federal regulation; above 12% has historically been considered “failing” under prior rule cycles.
Institution-wide
1.7%Median federal debt $4,537 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $36,531 (10y after entry).
SECTION 04 · LONG ARC
Ten-plus year arc
Federally available history. Coverage varies by metric — IPEDS publishes some series only after 2009 and others only before.
Undergraduate enrollment.
150%-time completion rate.
Median federal student debt at exit.
+34%
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College · retention rose
44.0% → 59.1%
-53%
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College · undergrad enrollment fell
8,931 → 4,207
+177%
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College · in-state tuition rose
$1,659 → $4,590
+117%
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College · out-of-state tuition rose
$6,976 → $15,150
+121%
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College · median debt rose
$2,605 → $5,750
-100%
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College · cohort default rate fell
20.8% → 0.0%
+351%
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College · pell share rose
7.9% → 35.6%
+26%
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College · earnings_median_10yr rose
$29,100 → $36,531
SECTION 05 · PROGRAMS
Ranked by 5-year earnings
Each row is one (CIP × credential) program reported by the institution in College Scorecard's Field-of-Study data. Cohort floor is 30 students; below this, federal data is suppressed.
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
1 programs with earnings, grouped
Programs are grouped by 2-digit CIP family. Programs without reported earnings are hidden to keep the list focused.
LIBERAL ARTS & GENERAL STUDIES · CIP 24
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College
Pick a program. Cost from Scorecard net price by family income; earnings from Treasury 5-year-post-completion median, projected forward with a Mincer age-earnings curve. The selection-bias toggle applies the Dale-Krueger shrinkage. Outcomes illustration, not a forecast — see methodology.
Shrinks the earnings premium toward the matched-applicant mean. STEM <15%, business ~40%, arts & education ~60%.
NET PRESENT VALUE
$149,502
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
Year 12
First year cumulative discounted earnings cross zero
- Cost per year
- $4,862
- HS-only baseline · IL
- $38,300
- Years to complete
- 2
- CIP family
- 24
Outcomes illustration · not a forecast. Projects observed Scorecard earnings forward with a Mincer age-earnings curve under your assumptions. See methodology for the math.
SECTION 07 · SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS
Same sector and degree mix in Illinois
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College graduates earn $X” — not “City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College caused. Selection effects (who admits, who enrolls, who completes) are real. We publish federal data with strict descriptive phrasing — and link the methodology where you can read about the limitations directly.