+17%
In-state tuition
In-state tuition at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute rose 17% between 2006 and 2009 ($33.5k → $39.2k).
New York · Private nonprofit · Predominantly bachelor's
RPI
Troy, New York. 5,909 undergraduate students. 134 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at RPI
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 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute fell 100% between 2021 and 2024 (0.5% → 0.0%).
+66%
Private nonprofit bachelor's-predominant peer
10-year earnings at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are 66% above the private nonprofit bachelor's-predominant peer median ($102.1k vs $61.5k).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. New York
Each tile compares this institution to the New York median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$102,051+23% · 6→10y
New York median $48,917$83,054
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry83.2%+19% · '97→'24
New York median 64.2%$21,995+65% · '97→'20
At program completion5,909+37% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS88.7%-0% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time58.5%-6% · '01→'24
latest cohort$61,884+53% · '01→'09
out-of-state $61,884SECTION 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
2.9%Median federal debt $21,995 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $102,051 (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.
+63%
RPI · completion · 100% rose
44.1% → 71.7%
+37%
RPI · undergrad enrollment rose
4,175 → 5,714
+53%
RPI · in-state tuition rose
$25,555 → $39,165
+151%
RPI · out-of-state tuition rose
$25,555 → $64,081
+65%
RPI · median debt rose
$14,375 → $23,750
-100%
RPI · cohort default rate fell
2.6% → 0.0%
+33%
RPI · pell share rose
15.0% → 19.9%
+28%
RPI · earnings_median_10yr rose
$79,900 → $102,051
+31%
RPI · earnings_median_6yr rose
$63,300 → $83,054
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.
Computer and Information Sciences, General.$170,829Computer Science.$162,992Computer Science.$148,254Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians.$135,609Business Administration, Management and Operations.$132,930Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.$127,402Industrial Engineering.$117,724Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering.$116,079Applied Mathematics.$114,004Physics.$111,815Biomedical/Medical Engineering.$111,812Mechanical Engineering.$108,034Chemical Engineering.$107,062Mathematics.$106,266Business Administration, Management and Operations.$100,765Civil Engineering.$100,133Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.$98,049Nuclear Engineering.$97,907Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.$94,499Mechanical Engineering.$94,402Civil Engineering.$94,283Economics.$92,037Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering.$88,236Materials Engineering$84,117
Showing top 24 of 27 ranked programs.
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
27 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.$94,402Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.$98,049Biomedical/Medical Engineering.$111,812Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering.$116,079Chemical Engineering.$107,062Civil Engineering.$94,283Industrial Engineering.$117,724Mechanical Engineering.$108,034Materials Engineering$84,117Civil Engineering.$100,133Nuclear Engineering.$97,907Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering.$88,236
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES · CIP 15
BIOLOGICAL & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES · CIP 26
MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS · CIP 27
MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES · CIP 30
PHYSICAL SCIENCES · CIP 40
SOCIAL SCIENCES · CIP 45
BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT & MARKETING · CIP 52
ARCHITECTURE · CIP 04
COMMUNICATION & JOURNALISM · CIP 09
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at RPI
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
$2,225,879
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
Year 5
First year cumulative discounted earnings cross zero
- Cost per year
- $25,624
- HS-only baseline · NY
- $40,100
- Years to complete
- 4
- CIP family
- 11
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 New York
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“RPI graduates earn $X” — not “RPI makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending RPI 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.