Career Training Path › Methodology
Methodology, data sources and corrections
Every figure on this site is an official federal measure, reproduced without adjustment. This page says which file each one comes from, what little we compute ourselves, and what we deliberately do not show.
Data sources
| What | Source | Release used | Refresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campus identity, control (public / non-profit / for-profit), accreditation, Title IV status | U.S. Dept. of Education, Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) and IPEDS Institutional Characteristics | DAPIP September 2026 | DAPIP monthly; IPEDS annually |
| Programs offered, credentials awarded per program (completers) | IPEDS Completions survey | 2022-23 academic year | Annually (the newest complete year) |
| Completion rate, retention, median debt of graduates, median earnings 6 and 10 years after entry, cost of attendance, Pell share | College Scorecard, institution-level file | June 2026 | Annually |
| Program-level earnings 1 year after completion | College Scorecard, field-of-study file (4-digit CIP) | June 2026 | Annually |
| Accreditor sanctions (probation, warning, show-cause, loss) in the last 36 months; Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 | DAPIP accreditation actions; Dept. of Education HCM list | September 2026 | Monthly / quarterly |
| Commercial driver training providers (name, address, programs) | FMCSA Training Provider Registry | September 2026 | Quarterly |
| State-licensed schools not in the federal aid system | State licensing-board rosters | Varies by state | As published |
| "What the trade pays" wage bands | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | May 2025 | Annually |
Current vintage line, shown on every page: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2022-23 Completions survey; College Scorecard June 2026; Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP), September 2026.
What is covered
3,741 campuses report to the federal aid system and carry outcome data; 24,392 program records sit under them. A further 3,709 commercial-driver training providers and 1,912 state-licensed schools are listed by name, address and programs only — they are outside the federal aid system, so no completion, debt or earnings figures exist for them, and we say so on each page rather than estimating.
What we compute ourselves
- Completion vs. state average. A campus's Scorecard completion rate compared with the unweighted mean of all reporting campuses in its state. "Above" or "below" is a plain comparison, not a ranking.
- Color bands on completion. 65% and above is shown green, 45–64% amber, under 45% red. These cut points are ours; they are visual guides, not federal thresholds.
- State and trade summaries. Means and medians across the reporting campuses in a state or program family, recomputed on each data load. Small groups are noted.
- Accountability flags. A campus is flagged when DAPIP records a formal sanction by any recognized accreditor in the last 36 months, or the Department lists it under Heightened Cash Monitoring 2. Routine monitoring reviews and voluntary withdrawals are not counted. We show the latest action and its resolution verbatim.
- Time-to-earn and cost comparisons on the research pages combine Scorecard cost, debt and earnings fields with BLS wage bands; each report states its own formula.
How to read earnings
Earnings are median wages and self-employment income reported to the IRS (W-2 and Schedule SE) for graduates who received federal aid and were working and not enrolled, measured in the calendar year after finishing. They are pay only: health insurance, retirement contributions and other benefits are not included.
"What the trade pays" is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025): annual wages for everyone employed in the occupation nationally, at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles. The 10th–25th percentile band is a fair guide to entry-level pay; the 75th–90th to experienced workers. Program earnings (above) are lower because they count every graduate of the program in their first year, including part-time work, apprentice wages and jobs outside the trade.
What we leave out, and why
- Where the government suppresses a value for privacy (small cohorts), the page says "not reported". We never impute.
- The federal cohort default rate is omitted: it is near zero for every school in the current release because of the pandemic repayment pause and carries no information today.
- We collect no student reviews and host no star ratings of our own.
- Tuition quoted by schools is not shown; Scorecard cost of attendance is, with its definition.
Which pages we submit to search engines
Every campus has a page and every page is public. Since October 2026 we submit to Google only the campus pages that carry federal outcome data or an accountability record; registry-only and state-roster pages stay online and reachable from their state hubs but are marked for Google not to index. This keeps search results pointed at pages with something to compare. Bing and AI assistants receive the full sitemap.
Independence and money
No school pays to be listed, ranked or described. The site currently carries no advertising and no sponsored placements. If either is introduced it will be labeled, and no school's data will change because of it. The publisher, Own the Answer Inc., is not affiliated with the Department of Education, any accreditor, or any school.
Corrections
If a figure on this site does not match the federal source, or a school's name, address, programs or accreditation is wrong, write to contact@careertrainingpath.com with the page URL. We check against the source file and correct the page within five business days, or explain why the source says what it says. Corrections that change a published research figure are noted on the Data updates page. Schools can also use the same address to ask that outdated contact details be refreshed ahead of the next federal release.
Who is responsible
Vince Czaplyski is the editor and is responsible for the method on this page and for the research reports. Own the Answer Inc., 5342 Clark Road #1370, Sarasota, FL 34233, is the publisher. Read more on the About page. This page was last reviewed 2026-10-12.