-24%
Alabama State University · Public bachelor's-predominant peer
10-year earnings at Alabama State University are 24% below the public bachelor's-predominant peer median ($34.5k vs $45.4k).
State hub · Alabama · vintage 2025-05
Alabama Colleges
Earnings, debt, completion, and default rates for every Title-IV institution in Alabama — and every program where federal data is published. Sourced from College Scorecard, IPEDS, and Treasury tax records.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags across Alabama
Top signals rolled up across Alabamainstitutions — a mix of warnings and improvements, alternating so the page isn't skewed in either direction. Detectors: short-arc shift (recent 3-year window), earnings trend, peer outlier, completion drop, enrollment cliff, and debt-to-earnings warning. Multi-decade shifts are reported separately in the Long Arc section.
-18%
J. F. Drake State Community and Technical College · Public certificate-predominant peer
10-year earnings at J. F. Drake State Community and Technical College are 18% below the public certificate-predominant peer median ($28.3k vs $34.5k).
-16%
Reid State Technical College · Public certificate-predominant peer
10-year earnings at Reid State Technical College are 16% below the public certificate-predominant peer median ($29.0k vs $34.5k).
-13%
Bishop State Community College · Public certificate-predominant peer
10-year earnings at Bishop State Community College are 13% below the public certificate-predominant peer median ($29.9k vs $34.5k).
+114%
Heritage Christian University · Median federal debt at exit
Median federal debt at exit at Heritage Christian University rose 114% between 2007 and 2010 ($7.8k → $16.7k).
+101%
Selma University · 3-year cohort default rate
3-year cohort default rate at Selma University rose 101% between 2015 and 2018 (17.0% → 34.2%).
SECTION 01 · STATE OVERVIEW
The numbers
Statewide aggregates across Alabama Title-IV institutions. Earnings are 10 years after entry, computed by Treasury tax records on federally aided students. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
69
Title-IV main campuses2,806
with published outcomes$39,017
across institutions43.4%
median across institutions216,868
latest historical vintage$7,590
median across institutionsSECTION 02 · LONG ARC
How Alabama has shifted
Federally available history. Sparkline coverage varies by metric — IPEDS publishes some series only after 2009 and others only before.
Statewide undergraduate enrollment, all Title-IV institutions.
Median completion rate within 150% of expected time.
+68%
Statewide · completion · 150% rose
30.4% → 51.2%
+40%
Statewide · undergrad enrollment rose
155,311 → 216,868
+198%
Statewide · in-state tuition rose
$2,545 → $7,590
SECTION 03 · INSTITUTIONS
40 institutions with 1,000+ undergrads, ranked by 10-year earnings
Click any column header to sort. Click any row for the full institution page. Heat-shading runs against the displayed values; em-dash means the cell was suppressed by federal privacy rules. Institutions with fewer than 1,000undergrads are filtered out here — small specialty schools (cosmetology, barbering, single-credential institutes) arithmetically dominate the extremes on every metric and aren't comparable to larger schools.
Showing 40 of 69 Title-IV institutions · Public 38 · Private 18 · For-profit 13
SECTION 04 · TOP BY EARNINGS
Highest 10-year median earnings
Treasury earnings, 10 years after entry. Includes non-completers and out-of-state movers in the cohort.
SECTION 05 · TOP BY COMPLETION
Highest 150%-time completion
Share of first-time, full-time freshmen who complete within 150% of expected time (IPEDS GR). Filtered to institutions with more than 1,000undergrads — tiny cohorts skew toward 100% and aren't comparable to larger schools.
BY CITY
All 42 Alabama cities with colleges
Each city has its own hub with the colleges located there. Alphabetical.
- Albertville
- Alexander City
- Andalusia
- Athens
- Auburn
- Bay Minette
- Bessemer
- Birmingham
- Boaz
- Daphne
- Deatsville
- Dothan
- Enterprise
- Evergreen
- Fairfield
- Florence
- Gadsden
- Hanceville
- Hoover
- Huntsville
- Jackson
- Jacksonville
- Jasper
- Livingston
- Madison
- Marion
- Midfield
- Mobile
- Montevallo
- Montgomery
- Muscle Shoals
- Normal
- Orange Beach
- Phenix City
- Rainsville
- Selma
- Talladega
- Tanner
- Troy
- Tuscaloosa
- Tuskegee
- Wadley
METHODOLOGY
What these numbers are — and aren't
Earnings are median tax-record earnings for federally aided students, 4–10 years after first enrollment. They describe cohorts, not future outcomes — and they include non-completers and out-of-state movers. Selection bias is real: high-earning programs may attract higher-earning students. We surface descriptive numbers, not causal claims.