-30%
150%-time completion
150%-time completion at William Rainey Harper College fell 30% between 2006 and 2009 (21.0% → 14.8%).
Illinois · Public · Predominantly certificates
William Rainey Harper College
Palatine, Illinois. 8,815 undergraduate students. 84 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at William Rainey Harper College
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 William Rainey Harper College fell 100% between 2021 and 2024 (2.0% → 0.0%).
+25%
Public certificate-predominant peer
10-year earnings at William Rainey Harper College are 25% above the public certificate-predominant peer median ($48.1k vs $38.4k).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. Illinois
Each tile compares this institution to the Illinois median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$48,071+20% · 6→10y
Illinois median $40,810$40,035
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry45.6%
Illinois median 53.3%$6,230+288% · '97→'20
At program completion8,815-32% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS77.1%+12% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time—
latest cohort$3,822+123% · '00→'24
out-of-state $11,802SECTION 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
1.7%Median federal debt $6,230 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $48,071 (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.
+296%
William Rainey Harper College · completion · 150% rose
0.0% → 14.8%
+12%
William Rainey Harper College · retention rose
69.0% → 77.3%
-32%
William Rainey Harper College · undergrad enrollment fell
13,671 → 9,313
+123%
William Rainey Harper College · in-state tuition rose
$1,743 → $3,894
+50%
William Rainey Harper College · out-of-state tuition rose
$7,914 → $11,874
+288%
William Rainey Harper College · median debt rose
$2,625 → $10,184
-100%
William Rainey Harper College · cohort default rate fell
18.6% → 0.0%
+354%
William Rainey Harper College · pell share rose
2.0% → 19.7%
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.
Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.$81,281Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.$79,071Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services.$65,904Dental Support Services and Allied Professions.$59,677Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants.$54,134Biological and Physical Sciences.$49,656Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.$46,636Health and Medical Administrative Services.$45,209
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
8 programs with earnings, grouped
Programs are grouped by 2-digit CIP family. Programs without reported earnings are hidden to keep the list focused.
LIBERAL ARTS & GENERAL STUDIES · CIP 24
MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES · CIP 30
HEALTH PROFESSIONS · CIP 51
Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants.$54,134Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.$79,071Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services.$65,904Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.$81,281Dental Support Services and Allied Professions.$59,677Health and Medical Administrative Services.$45,209
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at William Rainey Harper College
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
$199,818
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
Year 9
First year cumulative discounted earnings cross zero
- Cost per year
- $8,614
- HS-only baseline · IL
- $38,300
- Years to complete
- 2
- CIP family
- 24
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 Illinois
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“William Rainey Harper College graduates earn $X” — not “William Rainey Harper College makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending William Rainey Harper College 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.