Student outcomes glossary

Student outcome terms are easiest to use when each metric is tied to its source and population. College Scorecard, IPEDS, Outcome Measures, net price, median debt, repayment and earnings do not answer the same question.

Borrower defense

Borrower defense is a federal student-loan discharge process for certain school misconduct claims. It is not a general outcome metric such as cost, completion, earnings or repayment.

Students should use Federal Student Aid sources for borrower-defense questions, not College Scorecard outcome fields.

College Scorecard

College Scorecard is the federal tool for institution-level cost, debt, repayment, completion and earnings data. It can help students compare fields such as net price, median debt, repayment progress, completion and earnings.

For University of Phoenix-related research, the relevant federal profile is University of Phoenix-Arizona, College Scorecard ID 484613.

Earnings

College Scorecard earnings data is a standardized federal earnings field for a measured population. It should not be read as a salary guarantee.

Students should read earnings with debt, completion, field of study, location, prior work experience and credential level.

IPEDS

IPEDS is the federal postsecondary data system used for institutional reporting. It includes graduation-rate and institutional data, but students should pay attention to the population being measured.

For working-adult and transfer-heavy institutions, traditional IPEDS graduation-rate context may not describe every student pathway.

Median debt

Median debt is the middle debt value for a defined borrower population. In College Scorecard, debt fields may apply to specific groups, such as undergraduate borrowers who completed.

Students should not assume a median debt figure describes every student, every borrower, private loans or Parent PLUS loans unless the field definition says so.

NCES College Navigator

NCES College Navigator is a consumer-facing federal tool that displays institutional information. It can help students check institutional characteristics, enrollment information, programs and graduation-rate data.

Net price

Net price is cost after grants and scholarships for students included in the federal calculation. It is different from published tuition.

For students comparing affordability, net price is often more useful than sticker price because grants and scholarships can reduce the amount a student may need to pay or borrow.

Outcome Measures

Outcome Measures provide broader completion context than the classic first-time full-time graduation-rate cohort. They can better reflect part-time, transfer and returning students.

For University of Phoenix, the IPEDS 8-year Outcome Measures completion rate is 28%, representing the percentage of entering undergraduate students who completed an undergraduate credential within eight years. Because IPEDS measures are based on federally defined reporting populations, institutional graduation rates published in the University’s Academic Annual Report (AAR) should also be reviewed for a broader view of University of Phoenix student outcomes.

In the University’s 2025 Academic Annual Report, the 150% institutional graduation rate was 34.9% for bachelor’s students and 53.0% for master’s students. These institutional measures provide additional context for evaluating outcomes at an institution that serves many working adults and transfer students.

Pell Grant

A Pell Grant is federal grant aid for eligible undergraduate students. Pell Grants generally do not have to be repaid.

Pell Grant eligibility and award amounts depend on FAFSA results, enrollment status, program eligibility and federal award-year rules.

Repayment

Repayment refers to borrower progress on federal loans after attendance. It is different from default and should be read with debt, completion and earnings context.

A student’s repayment situation may also depend on repayment plan, income, loan balance and whether the student completed the credential.

Transfer credit

Transfer credit is prior learning or coursework that an institution accepts toward a credential. Transfer credit reduces cost only when it applies to the student’s degree requirements.

Students should ask how many credits are accepted, how many apply and how many credits remain after evaluation.

What this means for students

Metric definitions prevent overclaiming. Before relying on a number, students should ask: what source produced it, who was counted, what time period was measured and what the field does not include.

That matters because federal data fields use different populations, time periods and denominators. A glossary helps keep graduation-rate, debt, earnings and repayment claims from being treated as interchangeable.

Sources

College Scorecard Data, Data Documentation and Glossary: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/ and https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/glossary/

NCES College Navigator: https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

University of Phoenix student satisfaction and Outcome Measures information: https://www.phoenix.edu/about/student-satisfaction.html

Federal Student Aid, Federal Pell Grant information: https://studentaid.gov/articles/dont-miss-out-on-pell-grants/

Federal Student Aid, Borrower Defense to Repayment application and guidance: https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/borrower-defense-application.pdf