+16%
In-state tuition
In-state tuition at Vassar College rose 16% between 2006 and 2009 ($36.1k → $41.9k).
New York · Private nonprofit · Predominantly bachelor's
Vassar
Poughkeepsie, New York. 2,430 undergraduate students. 43 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at Vassar
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.
+45%
Earnings trend · post-entry horizons
Earnings 10 years post-entry at Vassar College are 45% above 6-year earnings ($49.2k → $71.4k).
+13%
Out-of-state tuition
Out-of-state tuition at Vassar College rose 13% between 2021 and 2024 ($62.9k → $71.0k).
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.
$71,366+45% · 6→10y
New York median $48,917$49,177
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry89.1%+10% · '97→'09
New York median 64.2%$17,500+14% · '97→'20
At program completion2,430+7% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS94.4%-0% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time17.7%-27% · '01→'09
latest cohort$67,805+62% · '01→'09
out-of-state $67,805SECTION 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
3.3%Median federal debt $17,500 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $71,366 (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.
+62%
Vassar · in-state tuition rose
$25,890 → $41,930
+174%
Vassar · out-of-state tuition rose
$25,890 → $71,030
-35%
Vassar · cohort default rate fell
0.7% → 0.0%
+83%
Vassar · pell share rose
10.5% → 19.2%
+41%
Vassar · earnings_median_6yr rose
$34,900 → $49,177
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.$115,240Economics.$103,043Mathematics.$77,602International Relations and National Security Studies.$75,748Political Science and Government.$72,327Biology, General.$71,377Fine and Studio Arts.$66,304Film/Video and Photographic Arts.$64,947English Language and Literature, General.$58,430Psychology, General.$55,701Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.$54,746East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.$52,552Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.$38,959
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
13 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
FOREIGN LANGUAGES · CIP 16
ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE · CIP 23
BIOLOGICAL & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES · CIP 26
MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS · CIP 27
PSYCHOLOGY · CIP 42
SOCIAL SCIENCES · CIP 45
VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS · CIP 50
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at Vassar
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
$450,769
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
Year 10
First year cumulative discounted earnings cross zero
- Cost per year
- $25,779
- HS-only baseline · NY
- $40,100
- Years to complete
- 4
- CIP family
- 45
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
“Vassar graduates earn $X” — not “Vassar makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending Vassar 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.