Search any college in the United States. We grade it from A to F on what happens to its students, and tell you plainly what is good about it and what is bad.
Picked by the same data as the grades, from four-year colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Not the whole story: look at the program you want and the net price for your family.
Strong results at a below-typical cost
Graded A or B, with an average net price at or below the typical four-year college. Highest score first.
Lowest net price with most students finishing
At least 60% of students graduate. Cheapest average net price first.
Compare colleges side by side
Add up to four colleges and see them together. The best figure in each row is highlighted. You can also press "Add to compare" on any report card.
Read this first. "Worst" here means worst measured outcomes for the average student, not that every program or professor is bad. Many of these schools enroll working adults or students from low-income families, who face harder odds anywhere, so the score also compares each school with what is typical for colleges serving similar students. Use this as a reason to ask hard questions, and check the school's own page on the College Scorecard before deciding.
The 15 worst larger four-year colleges, and why
Scope: four-year colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates and a six-year graduation rate of 42% or lower, 92 schools in all. We scored those 92 and show the worst 15. A school above 42% cannot appear here, however weak its other numbers, so this is a list of the worst among low-graduation schools, not of every college. Ranked by our Risk Score from 0 to 100, where higher is worse. The black tick on each bar marks the typical four-year college.
Two graduation measures. The cards below use the six-year rate for first-time, full-time students (150% of normal time), the figure the Risk Score is built on. The search grades and school report cards use the eight-year rate for all students, including part-time and transfer students. They measure different groups, so the same school can show two different percentages.
The full bottom 30
Search by name or state, filter by type, and click any column heading to sort.
#
College
Risk score
Graduate
Return for year 2
Earnings, 10 yrs
Debt at graduation
Net price / yr
How the grades and ranking work
The A to F grade (search results). Every college is compared only with colleges of its own kind: four-year colleges with four-year colleges, two-year with two-year, certificate schools with certificate schools. For each measure we work out what percentage of similar colleges it beats, then combine those with the weights shown. Four-year colleges are scored on all seven measures below. Two-year colleges and certificate schools are scored on five: the two "versus expected" measures are left out for them (see the accuracy note below), and the remaining weights are scaled up to fill the grade. The top 10% get an A, the next 15% a B, the next 25% a C, the next 25% a D and the bottom 25% an F. This is a stricter curve than before and applies the same way to every college of each type. The graduation rate is the one shown on the federal Scorecard: the share of all students, including part-time and transfer students, who finish within eight years. A four-year college needs a graduation rate, an earnings figure and at least three other measures to be graded. A two-year or certificate school needs a graduation rate, an earnings figure and at least two of the other three. The "good" and "bad" points are written automatically from the same numbers: beating about two thirds of similar colleges counts as good, trailing about two thirds counts as bad. Data: College Scorecard institution file dated November 2, 2026.
How reliable are the "expected" figures? We tested the expected-outcome model on colleges left out when it was fitted (half the schools of each kind, chosen by ID number). It uses only the share of students receiving Pell Grants, and it is a weak predictor. For four-year colleges it explains about 26% of the differences in graduation rate and about 24% in earnings, with typical errors of about 16 percentage points and $15,000. For two-year colleges and certificate schools it explains almost none (under 10%). So a gap between a college and its "expected" figure is a rough signal, not proof of under-performance. On school pages we only describe a gap in words for four-year colleges, and only when it is larger than that typical error. The two "versus expected" measures count for 25% of a four-year college's A to F grade. They were removed from the grades of two-year colleges and certificate schools on November 14, 2026, because the model fails for them, which changed 665 grades and left 127 schools without a grade for lack of enough other data.
The Risk Score (worst-15 ranking) uses the same seven measures with fixed cut-offs instead of percentiles. All numbers come from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, latest release, retrieved November 13, 2026. A school gets penalty points in seven areas, weighted as shown.
25% · Graduation rateShare of students who finish within 150% of normal time. No penalty at 60% or above, full penalty at 10%.
15% · Graduation vs. expectedHow far the school falls below the rate typical for colleges with the same share of Pell Grant (low-income) students.
15% · EarningsMedian earnings ten years after starting, among students who received federal aid. No penalty at $60,000, full penalty at $30,000.
10% · Earnings vs. expectedHow far earnings fall below what is typical for colleges with the same share of Pell students.
15% · Debt compared with earningsMedian federal debt of graduates divided by median earnings.
10% · Net priceAverage yearly cost after grants and scholarships. No penalty at $8,000, full penalty at $30,000.
10% · RetentionShare of full-time first-year students who return for a second year.
Limits you should know about.
Only colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates that mainly award bachelor's degrees and are currently open were considered. Only those graduating 42% or fewer were scored, so an expensive school with a middling graduation rate can escape this list.
Colleges in Puerto Rico and other territories were left out because local wages make earnings comparisons unfair.
The "expected" figures come from a simple model fitted to a 595-school national sample, and the "typical college" figures are medians of that sample.
Earnings and debt cover only students who received federal aid. School-wide numbers hide big differences between majors.
Reviews left on this site are anonymous and cannot be verified. Anyone can post one, so read them as individual opinions. They are shown beside the grade and never change it. Reviews may not contain links, contact details or the names of individual people, and reported reviews are hidden.
Student opinion is summarized from public review sites and news reporting. For several schools very little exists, and we say so rather than guess. Lawsuits described as allegations have not been proven.
Five of the top 15 are historically Black colleges, which have been funded far below their peers for decades. Low outcomes there reflect that history as well as the schools' own performance.