Nonprofit vs for-profit online colleges: the 2026 data

In College Scorecard’s October 2026 release, ownership is one label among the measures, and for students who started in 2017-18 the 8-year award rate at the 35 schools we profile runs from 21% to 56% at the 8 public schools, 31% to 65% at the 14 nonprofits and 15% to 74% at the 13 for-profits. The group medians sit closer: 42% public, 44% nonprofit and 32% for-profit, by our arithmetic.

So a school’s label tells you who controls it and which federal rules apply to it. Its own figures tell you what students paid, borrowed and earned there.

You are paying with your own money this time, so a wrong pick costs you directly. The measures below are side by side for all three labels, then a four-step check for the one school you are weighing.

The 35 are the schools in our School Profiles, live and planned. They are not a sample of all colleges, so a group figure here describes these schools only. Source · College Scorecard data files, October 15, 2026 release

Scorecard files three labels: public, nonprofit and for-profit

Federal data puts every college under one of three labels in its control field. College Navigator defines them this way: Source · College Navigator, institution type definitions

Of the 35 schools we profile, 8 are public, 14 private nonprofit and 13 private for-profit. Public schools are not for-profit either, so a list of nonprofit online universities that skips them leaves out 8 of the 35.

The tables use Scorecard’s label, filed for 2025-26. A school’s status can be disputed or can change: the records are on our profiles of Grand Canyon University and the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC).

The label says nothing about accreditation, which you check separately.

Group medians sit close; single schools spread wide

Here are the medians for each group on six Scorecard measures. Every figure covers only the 35 schools we profile, and each median is our arithmetic over the values Scorecard publishes. The 8-year award rate is the share of all students who received an award, a degree or certificate, within 8 years of starting.

The median share of undergraduates with a federal loan in 2024-25 was 31% at the public schools, 51% at the nonprofits and 63% at the for-profits (our arithmetic, 35 schools we profile). The Pell shares fall in the same order: 36%, 46% and 58%.

On completion, pay, debt and net price, the medians sit closer than the schools do. Each group’s lowest and highest school are further apart than the gap between any two group medians, by our arithmetic over the 35 schools we profile.

For completion at ten online schools in Scorecard’s June 2026 release, nine of them also profiled here, see our online college completion rates, and check which Scorecard release each page names before you compare figures.

The schools at each end, lowest first, in public, nonprofit and for-profit order:

• Award rate: Arizona Global Campus and UMass Global; Embry-Riddle Worldwide and Excelsior; American InterContinental and Strayer (tied), and Chamberlain.
• Earnings: Purdue Global and Maryland Global Campus; Keiser and Embry-Riddle Worldwide; Full Sail and Chamberlain.
• Debt: Thomas Edison State and Arizona Global Campus; Western Governors and Keiser; Capella and Strayer.
• Net price: Purdue Global and UMass Global; Bellevue and Southern New Hampshire; American Public University System and Chamberlain.

Net price is the full yearly cost of attendance (tuition and fees, books and supplies, living expenses) minus average grant aid, for full-time first-time students with federal (Title IV) aid.

For public schools it counts in-state students only, so read it as a rough guide across labels. Source · College Scorecard data dictionary

One school’s figures decide: Keiser next to Columbia Southern

Example, not advice: a comparison of two schools we profile. Scorecard files Keiser University (its row is named “Keiser University-Ft Lauderdale”) as private nonprofit and Columbia Southern University as private for-profit.

Here the for-profit has the higher figure on award rate and earnings and the lower one on debt, net price and loan share. Keiser sits at the bottom of its group on earnings ($51,106) and at the top on debt ($25,992), and the ranges above hold pairs that go the other way: for-profit award rates start at 15%, nonprofit ones reach 65% (35 schools we profile, our arithmetic).

The label did not predict either school’s figures.

These figures come from Scorecard’s institution-level file, not its field-of-study file, so none of them describes one program. College Navigator files Keiser as “4-year, primarily associate’s, Private not-for-profit” and Columbia Southern as “4-year, Private for-profit”. For the program you want, look up graduates’ earnings for that one program.

For-profit schools answer to two extra federal rules

The 90/10 rule caps federal money at 90% of revenue

A for-profit school must get at least 10% of its revenue “from sources other than Federal funds.”

For fiscal years starting on or after January 1, 2023, federal funds include Title IVTitle IV, Title IV of the Higher Education Act. The part of federal law that covers federal student aid. A Title IV school is one approved to pay out federal grants and loans. student aid and “any other educational assistance funds provided by a Federal agency directly to an institution or a student.” Source · 34 CFR 668.28

Missing the 10% once makes the school provisionally certified for the next two fiscal years, and it must notify students “of the possibility of loss of title IV eligibility.” Missing it two fiscal years in a row means it “loses its eligibility to participate in the title IV, HEA programs for at least two fiscal years.”

The Department’s report to Congress, dated June 25, 2026, covers the 1,170 for-profit schools that attested for fiscal years ending July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. Four were over 90%. Source · ED transmittal letter, June 25, 2026

The table shows the 11 for-profit schools we profile that appear in it, matched by name (the report lists schools by OPE ID, which can cover more campuses than one Scorecard ID).

None of the 11 is among the four over 90%. Post University and South University are not in the 2024-25 report. Source · FSA, 2024-25 90/10 report

The percentage describes where a school’s revenue came from, as the school attested from its audited statements. It is not your price or your outcome.

Gainful employment rules cover their programs until June 30, 2027

Under the federal gainful employment (GE) rules, “All educational programs offered by for-profit (proprietary) institutions are GE Programs,” except comprehensive transition and postsecondary (CTP) programs and a limited number of liberal arts bachelor’s programs.

Nondegree programs that lead to a recognized credential, such as certificates and diplomas, at public and nonprofit schools are GE programs too.

The exceptions there are CTP and prison education programs. Source · FSA, GEN-24-04

A GE program loses federal aid eligibility if it fails the debt-to-earnings measure or the earnings premium measure “in two out of any three consecutive award years for which rates are calculated.”

Federal Student Aid says the GE rules “remain in effect until June 30, 2027.” On July 1, 2027, new earnings accountability rules, published July 1, 2026, replace them. Source · FSA, FVT/GE information

The Department says it “intends to publish data and statistics” from GE and the new reporting in 2027. Here is how the new earnings test works.

Check one school in four steps

1. Find its label

   Open the school on College Navigator and read its “Type:” line, such as “4-year, Private for-profit” for Columbia Southern.

2. Pull its Scorecard figures with their years

   Note the 8-year award rate, graduates’ median earnings and debt, and net price. Set them against the ranges above, not against the label.

3. If it is for-profit, find its 90/10 line

   Federal Student Aid posts each year’s report on its Proprietary School 90/10 Revenue Percentages page. Source · FSA, 90/10 reports

4. Test the price against your pay

   Put the program’s yearly tuition and length into the ROI calculator.

Frequently asked questions

Is a nonprofit online college cheaper than a for-profit one?

Not as a group, in the 35 schools we profile. The median 2024-25 net price (full yearly cost minus average grants, for full-time first-time students with federal aid) was $21,509 at the 13 nonprofits that publish one and $20,694 at the 13 for-profits, by our arithmetic. Single schools ran from $11,116 to $38,263 among the for-profits and $11,743 to $36,764 among the nonprofits.

How can I tell if a college is for-profit?

Look up the school in College Navigator and read its “Type:” line. College Scorecard’s data files carry the same label in their control field, taken from IPEDS.

Does nonprofit mean public?

No. A public school is run by publicly elected or appointed officials and supported mainly by public funds. A private nonprofit is run privately, and those in control receive no compensation beyond wages, rent or other expenses.

Your next step: see your aid before you pick a school

Whatever the label, your price after aid depends on your own FAFSAFAFSA, Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The free federal form for grants, federal student loans and work-study. Most states and schools use it for their own aid too. answers and the rules for the year you start (2026-27 or 2027-28). The aid check estimates your Pell Grant and federal loans on screen.