-100%
3-year cohort default rate
3-year cohort default rate at University of Maryland-Baltimore County fell 100% between 2021 and 2024 (1.1% → 0.0%).
Maryland · Public · Predominantly bachelor's
UMBC
Baltimore, Maryland. 10,434 undergraduate students. 153 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at UMBC
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.
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. Maryland
Each tile compares this institution to the Maryland median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$69,960+27% · 6→10y
Maryland median $46,719$55,137
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry70.5%+44% · '97→'24
Maryland median 52.1%$15,750+160% · '97→'20
At program completion10,434+34% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS87.1%+4% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time74.2%+11% · '01→'24
latest cohort$12,952+141% · '00→'24
out-of-state $30,308SECTION 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
3.0%Median federal debt $15,750 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $69,960 (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.
+44%
UMBC · completion · 150% rose
48.6% → 70.0%
+134%
UMBC · completion · 100% rose
20.3% → 47.5%
+34%
UMBC · undergrad enrollment rose
7,988 → 10,701
+141%
UMBC · in-state tuition rose
$5,490 → $13,256
+205%
UMBC · out-of-state tuition rose
$10,258 → $31,275
+160%
UMBC · median debt rose
$7,500 → $19,500
-100%
UMBC · cohort default rate fell
6.2% → 0.0%
+82%
UMBC · pell share rose
16.5% → 30.0%
+32%
UMBC · earnings_median_10yr rose
$53,100 → $69,960
+29%
UMBC · earnings_median_8yr rose
$49,300 → $63,658
+33%
UMBC · earnings_median_6yr rose
$41,600 → $55,137
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.
Information Science/Studies.$131,013Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other.$121,540Business Administration, Management and Operations.$120,047Computer Engineering.$111,632Curriculum and Instruction.$111,426Computer Science.$109,160Information Science/Studies.$101,507Information Science/Studies.$99,498Chemical Engineering.$98,642Mechanical Engineering.$93,344Mathematics.$86,534Curriculum and Instruction.$85,348Accounting and Related Services.$77,731Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.$77,423Economics.$77,388Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management.$74,894Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology.$71,919Political Science and Government.$70,455Education, General.$67,339Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language.$65,659Biology, General.$65,647Sociology.$62,279Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other.$60,985Social Work.$59,755
Showing top 24 of 34 ranked programs.
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
34 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
EDUCATION · CIP 13
ENGINEERING · CIP 14
FOREIGN LANGUAGES · CIP 16
ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE · CIP 23
BIOLOGICAL & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES · CIP 26
MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS · CIP 27
MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES · CIP 30
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & SOCIAL SERVICES · CIP 44
SOCIAL SCIENCES · CIP 45
VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS · CIP 50
HEALTH PROFESSIONS · CIP 51
BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT & MARKETING · CIP 52
HISTORY · CIP 54
NATURAL RESOURCES & CONSERVATION · CIP 03
AREA, ETHNIC & CULTURAL STUDIES · CIP 05
COMMUNICATION & JOURNALISM · CIP 09
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at UMBC
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
$170,501
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
Year 15
First year cumulative discounted earnings cross zero
- Cost per year
- $18,506
- HS-only baseline · MD
- $41,100
- Years to complete
- 4
- CIP family
- 42
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 Maryland
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“UMBC graduates earn $X” — not “UMBC makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending UMBC 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.