September 30, 2025
This guide provides a high-level comparison of five key tools for analyzing graduate outcomes:
- U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (CS)
- U.S. Census Bureau's Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO)
- University of Minnesota's Postcollegiate Outcomes Project (PCO)
- University of Minnesota’s Postgraduation Survey (PGS)
- Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Graduate Employment Outcomes in Minnesota (GEO)
The goal is to help decision-makers understand why earnings results may differ across data sources and select the most appropriate tool based on their specific analytical needs.
| Feature | College Scorecard | U.S. Census Bureau (PSEO) | UMN PCO Project | UMN PGS | GEO in MN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Earnings Data Source | IRS earnings records. | Nationwide State Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage records and other federal records. | Minnesota Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage records. | Self-reported wage records (by student or entered by career services). | Minnesota Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage records. |
| Population Coverage | Limited to degree recipients (undergraduate and graduate) who received federal financial aid (Title IV). Not representative of all students or institutions. | All Minnesota degree recipients (undergraduate and graduate/professional) submitted to the U.S. Census Bureau by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (MOHE), exit cohorts AY 2006-07 to 2020-21. The Census then groups graduates from these exit cohorts by calendar years. | University of Minnesota (UMN) degree and certificate recipients (undergraduate and graduate/professional), exit cohorts: calendar years 2006-2022. | Undergraduate UMN degree recipients from exit cohorts AY 2020-21 to 2022-23. The survey is available beginning a few weeks before graduation and remains open for 12 months thereafter. | All degree recipients (certificates, associate, bachelor’s and graduate) from Minnesota institutions. Covers academic year (AY) cohorts from 2015-16 to 2021-22. |
| Earnings Coverage & Source | Internal Revenue Service (IRS) earnings records (include all businesses, self-employed individuals, etc.) | Nationwide UI wage records and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data for the majority of federal government employees, covering ~96% of employment in the U.S. | MN UI wage records: Cover ~95% of MN businesses. Exclude federal employees, self-employed, and those working out-of-state. | Data are self-reported by survey respondents and supplemented with data provided by Career Services and feeds from the University of Minnesota Foundation (UMF). | MN UI wage records: Cover ~95% of MN businesses. Exclude federal employees, self-employed, and those working out-of-state. |
| Key Earnings Metric | Earnings are reported at two levels: (1) Institutional median earnings – median earnings of students who enrolled at the institution 10 years ago, regardless of completion; (2) Field of study median earnings – median annual earnings 5 years after graduation (exit cohorts). | Median, 25th, and 75th percentile annual wages 1, 5, and 10 years after graduation. | Median, 25th, and 75th percentile annual wages for 1 to 15 years after graduation. | Self-reported earnings at time of survey completion (median and average). | Median annual wages for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year after graduation. |
| Geographic Scope | Nationwide, at the institutional level. | Nationwide. Location of employment is broken down by the U.S. Census region. | Minnesota only, with county level information for place of employment available. | Nationwide / worldwide organization information available(City, State, Country). | Minnesota only, with employment information available by the top regions in MN. |
| Handling of Further Education in Earnings Results | Does not control for further education, which can inflate earnings for undergraduate credentials. | Does not control for further education, which can inflate earnings for undergraduate credentials. | Can filter by highest degree earned. Allows for analysis based on the UMN credential alone or including subsequent degrees. | NA (time frame is limited to one year after graduation) | Does not control for further education, which can inflate earnings for undergraduate credentials. |
| Comparability | No. Focus on students receiving federal aid makes direct comparisons difficult. Uses “dummy years” post-graduation, where one year of earnings spans two calendar years since cohort years are based on the academic year (e.g., AY 2019-2020; 5 year earnings in 2024-2025). | No. Uses "dummy years" post-graduation, which do not align with calendar-year data from sources such as the U.S. Census (e.g., ACS or CPS). Graduation cohorts are rolled up into three-year spans for bachelor’s degrees and five-year spans for all other degrees. | Yes. Reports earnings by calendar year for a calendar cohort, allows for direct comparison with the U.S. Census (ACS, CPS) and BLS data at both national and Minnesota levels. | Possible. The calendar year for wage data collection is known. | No. The methodology is unique - using "dummy years" post-graduation that start and end based on each individual’s graduation date - and cannot be compared to national Census or BLS data. |
| Key Advantage | Useful for high-level, national institutional comparisons of short-term earnings (5 years post-graduation for exit cohorts) and debt for financial aid recipients. | The gold standard for nationwide, program-level earnings comparisons at multiple career points. | The most flexible tool for internal analysis, allowing for custom reports and true "apples-to-apples" comparisons with national benchmarks for both short- and long-term earnings. Individual-level data allow integration with other institutional datasets, such as surveys, and conduct analysis of the impact of within- college experiences on post-graduation outcomes. | Flexible data collection under UMN control, with individual record access; includes non-economic outcomes and student experiences not available in central records (e.g., High Impact Practices), merged with standardized information on specific occupations, company names, nonprofits, higher education institutions, self-employment/startups, and earnings. | Provides a quick overview of early-career, in-state employment for graduates from Minnesota institutions. |
| Key Limitations | Data are not representative of the entire student body. | Cannot isolate earnings based on the highest degree earned. Strict suppression rules: cell sizes with fewer than 30 records are suppressed. | Employment data are limited to Minnesota. | Results depend on survey response rates. Additionally, results may be biased, as the data are primarily self-reported and subject to recall errors, social desirability, nonresponse, and selective response biases. | Complex methodology and results are limited to short-term, in-state outcomes. Not comparable with other sources. |
| When to Use This Tool | For benchmarking the UMN against peer institutions nationwide on early career outcomes, particularly for prospective students, and federal accountability reporting. | For robust, program-level comparisons against other institutions nationwide. Ideal for academic program reviews and understanding the national market value of specific degrees. | For in-depth, internal analysis of UMN graduate outcomes. Best for understanding the ROI of a UMN degree, tracking long-term career trajectories, and making direct comparisons with the Census data for value-added assessments by institution and field of study. | When information is needed on high-impact experiences, linked with detailed occupational data , self-employment/startups, and employer information - 1 year after graduation. | For quick, high-level analysis of early-career (2-4 years) outcomes for graduates working in Minnesota. Useful for responding to local, state-level inquiries. |
Summary: Which tool to use?
No single tool answers every question. The choice of tool should be driven by the specific question being asked:
- For Minnesota-specific institutional comparisons and short-term outcomes: Use GEO in MN.
- For high-level, national institutional comparisons for federal aid recipients: Use the College Scorecard.
- For benchmarking specific degree programs against the national landscape: Use U.S. Census PSEO.
- For the most detailed, flexible, and comparable analysis of UMN graduates’ outcomes for internal planning and value demonstration: Use the UMN PCO Project.
- For insights into high impact experiences, non-economic outcomes, and overall placement within 1-year: Use PGS.
Websites
College Scorecard Results for University of Minnesota comparison
U.S. Census Bureau Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO)