-100%
3-year cohort default rate
3-year cohort default rate at Worcester Polytechnic Institute fell 100% between 2021 and 2024 (0.5% → 0.0%).
Massachusetts · Private nonprofit · Predominantly bachelor's
WPI
Worcester, Massachusetts. 5,344 undergraduate students. 118 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at WPI
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.
+64%
Private nonprofit bachelor's-predominant peer
10-year earnings at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are 64% above the private nonprofit bachelor's-predominant peer median ($103.5k vs $63.2k).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. Massachusetts
Each tile compares this institution to the Massachusetts median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$103,470+22% · 6→10y
Massachusetts median $56,022$85,038
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry88.4%+19% · '97→'24
Massachusetts median 66.5%$26,978+58% · '97→'20
At program completion5,344+103% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS93.7%+3% · '04→'09
first-time, full-time58.5%-21% · '01→'24
latest cohort$59,070+145% · '01→'24
out-of-state $59,070SECTION 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
3.5%Median federal debt $26,978 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $103,470 (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.
+51%
WPI · completion · 100% rose
56.0% → 84.5%
+103%
WPI · undergrad enrollment rose
2,685 → 5,447
+145%
WPI · in-state tuition rose
$24,890 → $60,965
+145%
WPI · out-of-state tuition rose
$24,890 → $60,965
+58%
WPI · median debt rose
$17,125 → $27,000
-100%
WPI · cohort default rate fell
2.8% → 0.0%
+43%
WPI · earnings_median_8yr rose
$70,500 → $100,553
+33%
WPI · earnings_median_6yr rose
$63,700 → $85,038
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.
Business Administration, Management and Operations.$172,341Computer Science.$148,489Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering.$145,851Systems Engineering.$133,448Engineering, Other.$125,087Engineering, Other.$120,591Mechanical Engineering.$111,218Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services, Other.$106,505Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering.$105,931Biomedical/Medical Engineering.$102,711Chemical Engineering.$100,777Mechanical Engineering.$100,164Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.$98,303Civil Engineering.$97,994Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.$85,313Biology, General.$82,976Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.$72,494
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
17 programs with earnings, grouped
Programs are grouped by 2-digit CIP family. Programs without reported earnings are hidden to keep the list focused.
COMPUTER & INFORMATION SCIENCES · CIP 11
ENGINEERING · CIP 14
Mechanical Engineering.$100,164Biomedical/Medical Engineering.$102,711Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering.$105,931Mechanical Engineering.$111,218Chemical Engineering.$100,777Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering.$145,851Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.$98,303Civil Engineering.$97,994Systems Engineering.$133,448Engineering, Other.$120,591Engineering, Other.$125,087
BIOLOGICAL & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES · CIP 26
MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES · CIP 30
BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT & MARKETING · CIP 52
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at WPI
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
$1,134,052
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
Year 7
First year cumulative discounted earnings cross zero
- Cost per year
- $29,195
- HS-only baseline · MA
- $42,600
- Years to complete
- 4
- CIP family
- 14
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 Massachusetts
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“WPI graduates earn $X” — not “WPI makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending WPI 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.