College Scorecard drops most minority-serving-institution labels, adds seven-year earnings data

As of 8:43 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026

The U.S. Education Department has removed most minority-serving-institution labels from the College Scorecard, its free online tool for comparing colleges' costs and graduates' outcomes, as part of an Oct. 15 update that also added new earnings data.

The Scorecard's official change log says indicators for several kinds of minority-serving institutions (MSIs) that "were included in the past have been removed." Those include Hispanic-serving institutions, Predominantly Black Institutions, Asian American- and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, Alaska Native- and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, and Native American non-tribal institutions.

Students can still filter searches to show only historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and tribal colleges, Inside Higher Ed reported Wednesday.

The change log is not fully consistent on this point. It lists Tribal Colleges and Universities both as an indicator that was updated and as one that was removed, and it does not mention HBCUs. GROKsiNEWS.com is relying on Inside Higher Ed's account of which filters remain.

No reason given

The change log does not say why the indicators were removed, and GROKsiNEWS.com found no separate Education Department statement on the change.

Inside Higher Ed noted the change alongside the administration's broader move against MSI grant programs. On Sept. 10, 2025, the department said it would stop discretionary funding for several MSI grant programs. The department said those programs discriminate "by conferring government benefits exclusively to institutions that meet racial or ethnic quotas," and it agreed with the U.S. solicitor general that the Hispanic-serving institution programs are unconstitutional.

"Discrimination based upon race or ethnicity has no place in the United States," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said at the time.

The programs cut in 2025 included those for Alaska Native- and Native Hawaiian-serving, Predominantly Black, Asian American- and Native American Pacific Islander-serving, Native American-serving nontribal, and Hispanic-serving institutions. Programs for HBCUs and tribal colleges were not on that list. About $350 million in fiscal 2025 discretionary money for the affected programs was to be redirected, the department said. The categories dropped from the Scorecard largely match the programs on that list.

New earnings data

The same update added earnings figures for graduates seven years after completion, alongside the one- and five-year measures the tool already showed, according to the change log and Inside Higher Ed. The department also said it refreshed data from federal education surveys, Federal Student Aid and the IRS, and published an errata document clarifying institution-level earnings data.

Under the Higher Education Act, eligibility for several MSI grant programs depends on the share of students from particular racial or ethnic groups, the department noted in its 2025 announcement. That requirement is the basis of its constitutional objection.