-100%
3-year cohort default rate
3-year cohort default rate at East Carolina University fell 100% between 2021 and 2024 (1.7% → 0.0%).
North Carolina · Public · Predominantly bachelor's
ECU
Greenville, North Carolina. 19,857 undergraduate students. 203 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at ECU
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. 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.
$55,146+19% · 6→10y
North Carolina median $36,030$46,420
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry62.1%+30% · '97→'24
North Carolina median 46.1%$17,500+300% · '97→'20
At program completion19,857+39% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS81.7%+5% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time90.1%+21% · '01→'24
latest cohort$7,361+226% · '00→'24
out-of-state $23,638SECTION 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
4.2%Median federal debt $17,500 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $55,146 (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.
+30%
ECU · completion · 150% rose
48.1% → 62.6%
+162%
ECU · completion · 100% rose
16.5% → 43.3%
+39%
ECU · undergrad enrollment rose
14,361 → 19,896
+226%
ECU · in-state tuition rose
$2,257 → $7,361
+134%
ECU · out-of-state tuition rose
$10,120 → $23,638
+300%
ECU · median debt rose
$5,689 → $22,750
-100%
ECU · cohort default rate fell
3.2% → 0.0%
+28%
ECU · earnings_median_10yr rose
$43,100 → $55,146
+30%
ECU · earnings_median_8yr rose
$39,600 → $51,582
+32%
ECU · earnings_median_6yr rose
$35,200 → $46,420
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.
Medicine.$208,132Dentistry.$199,571Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.$130,479Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.$124,323Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.$111,975Finance and Financial Management Services.$105,203Computer and Information Sciences, General.$103,222Educational Administration and Supervision.$99,556Business Administration, Management and Operations.$95,534Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Other.$91,812Computer Science.$89,249Accounting and Related Services.$89,162Marketing.$88,226Engineering, General.$85,744Management Information Systems and Services.$79,449Public Health.$79,276Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians.$77,547Finance and Financial Management Services.$77,460Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.$77,252Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.$76,422Educational Administration and Supervision.$74,712Business Administration, Management and Operations.$74,389Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.$73,869Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology.$73,734
Showing top 24 of 81 ranked programs.
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
81 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
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.$46,546Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.$47,784Educational Administration and Supervision.$74,712Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas.$59,194Educational Administration and Supervision.$99,556Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.$55,713Special Education and Teaching.$46,759Educational/Instructional Media Design.$63,580Educational/Instructional Media Design.$73,107Educational Administration and Supervision.$66,360Student Counseling and Personnel Services.$54,852
ENGINEERING · CIP 14
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES · CIP 15
FOREIGN LANGUAGES · CIP 16
FAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES · CIP 19
ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE · CIP 23
LIBERAL ARTS & GENERAL STUDIES · CIP 24
LIBRARY SCIENCE · CIP 25
BIOLOGICAL & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES · CIP 26
MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS · CIP 27
MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES · CIP 30
PARKS, RECREATION & FITNESS · CIP 31
PHYSICAL SCIENCES · CIP 40
HOMELAND SECURITY & PROTECTIVE SERVICES · CIP 43
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & SOCIAL SERVICES · CIP 44
SOCIAL SCIENCES · CIP 45
VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS · CIP 50
HEALTH PROFESSIONS · CIP 51
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.$76,422Public Health.$54,333Medicine.$208,132Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.$111,975Health and Medical Administrative Services.$64,364Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions.$61,394Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.$48,081Public Health.$79,276Dentistry.$199,571Communication Disorders Sciences and Services.$65,485Communication Disorders Sciences and Services.$64,426Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services.$57,007Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions.$57,042Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.$124,323Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.$61,855Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.$50,926Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.$63,109Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.$130,479Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.$73,869Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.$57,445
BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT & MARKETING · CIP 52
Business Administration, Management and Operations.$64,390Business Administration, Management and Operations.$95,534Marketing.$67,720Finance and Financial Management Services.$77,460Management Information Systems and Services.$79,449Hospitality Administration/Management.$51,148Accounting and Related Services.$65,459Accounting and Related Services.$89,162Business Administration, Management and Operations.$74,389Marketing.$88,226Finance and Financial Management Services.$105,203Business Operations Support and Assistant Services.$62,873
HISTORY · CIP 54
COMMUNICATION & JOURNALISM · CIP 09
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at ECU
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
$691,684
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
Year 7
First year cumulative discounted earnings cross zero
- Cost per year
- $16,785
- HS-only baseline · NC
- $35,600
- Years to complete
- 4
- CIP family
- 51
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
“ECU graduates earn $X” — not “ECU makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending ECU 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.