-25%
Undergraduate enrollment
Undergraduate enrollment at College of Wilmington fell 25% between 2021 and 2024 (175 → 132).
North Carolina · Private for-profit · Predominantly certificates
College of Wilmington
Wilmington, North Carolina. 154 undergraduate students. 3 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at College of Wilmington
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 College of Wilmington fell 100% between 2021 and 2024 (7.5% → 0.0%).
-21pp
150%-time completion
150%-time completion fell 21 pp at College of Wilmington vs the 2003–2007 baseline (33.3% vs 54.3%).
-17%
Earnings trend · post-entry horizons
Earnings 10 years post-entry at College of Wilmington are 17% below 6-year earnings ($23.2k → $19.2k).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. North Carolina
Each tile compares this institution to the North Carolina median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$19,235-17% · 6→10y
North Carolina median $36,030$23,178
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry33.3%-37% · '97→'09
North Carolina median 46.1%$6,228+169% · '08→'20
At program completion154+59% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS85.7%+21% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time—
latest cohort—
annualSECTION 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
4.3%Median federal debt $6,228 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $19,235 (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.
-37%
College of Wilmington · completion · 150% fell
83.0% → 52.4%
+21%
College of Wilmington · retention rose
66.0% → 80.0%
+25%
College of Wilmington · undergrad enrollment rose
83 → 132
+169%
College of Wilmington · median debt rose
$3,500 → $9,423
-100%
College of Wilmington · cohort default rate fell
20.0% → 0.0%
-29%
College of Wilmington · pell share fell
97.0% → 68.6%
+36%
College of Wilmington · earnings_median_10yr rose
$13,900 → $19,235
+56%
College of Wilmington · earnings_median_8yr rose
$13,900 → $22,326
+55%
College of Wilmington · earnings_median_6yr rose
$15,000 → $23,178
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.
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
3 programs with earnings, grouped
Programs are grouped by 2-digit CIP family. Programs without reported earnings are hidden to keep the list focused.
PERSONAL & CULINARY SERVICES · CIP 12
HEALTH PROFESSIONS · CIP 51
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at College of Wilmington
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
-$234,703
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
—
Doesn’t reach breakeven within the horizon
- Cost per year
- $14,063
- HS-only baseline · NC
- $35,600
- Years to complete
- 1
- CIP family
- 12
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 North Carolina
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“College of Wilmington graduates earn $X” — not “College of Wilmington makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending College of Wilmington 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.