specification: API Commons ChangeLog
specificationVersion: '0.1'
provider: Federal Student Aid
providerId: federal-student-aid
generated: '2026-09-09'
method: searched
source: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/changelog/
modified: '2026-09-09'
description: >-
  Dated change log for the College Scorecard API and data platform, the one
  machine-callable API surface carried on this Federal Student Aid record. The
  U.S. Department of Education publishes a public Change Log page for College
  Scorecard, and the site codebase (RTI International, ED's contractor) publishes
  matching tagged releases on GitHub. Federal Student Aid's own systems
  (StudentAid.gov, FSA Partner Connect, COD, NSLDS) publish no public change log
  for any API surface.
scope:
  api: College Scorecard API
  aid: federal-student-aid:college-scorecard
  note: >-
    Entries describe both data refreshes and website/API behaviour changes; the
    Department does not separate an API-only change log from the data change log.
sources:
  - type: ChangeLog
    url: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/changelog/
    status: 200
    note: Human-readable dated change log published by the Department of Education.
  - type: Releases
    url: https://github.com/RTICWDT/college-scorecard/releases
    status: 200
    note: >-
      Tagged, dated releases for the College Scorecard site/API codebase, linked
      from the College Scorecard footer. Version labels (3.x.y) match the version
      string printed in the site footer.
versioning:
  api_version_scheme: path
  current_api_version: v1
  current_platform_version: 3.6.1
  platform_version_evidence: >-
    Footer string "College Scorecard Data 3.6.1" on
    https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/api-documentation/ (fetched 2026-09-09).
  breaking_change_policy: none-published
  breaking_change_note: >-
    The Department publishes no deprecation or breaking-change policy for the
    College Scorecard API. Data variables are added, revised and re-derived
    between releases; the v1 path has not changed since the API launched.
entries:
  - date: '2026-06-10'
    version: null
    breaking: false
    additions: false
    highlights: >-
      Metrics derived from IPEDS refreshed with more recent data values; earnings
      threshold calculations revised to exclude unemployed individuals.
  - date: '2026-03-23'
    version: null
    breaking: false
    additions: true
    highlights: >-
      New earnings metrics added, including field-of-study earnings measures and
      comparisons to high school graduate earnings; IRS earnings source data updated.
  - date: '2025-11-17'
    version: '3.5.3'
    breaking: false
    additions: false
    highlights: >-
      Minority-serving institution indicators refreshed from Office of Postsecondary
      Education and Federal Student Aid sources (predominantly Black institutions,
      tribal colleges and other designated institution types).
  - date: '2025-05-21'
    version: null
    breaking: false
    additions: false
    highlights: >-
      Correction to a truncation defect in the SCORECARD_SECTOR metric.
  - date: '2025-04-23'
    version: '3.5.1'
    breaking: false
    additions: true
    highlights: >-
      New SCORECARD_SECTOR metric introduced for institutional classification;
      IPEDS and Federal Student Aid source data updated.
  - date: '2025-01-16'
    version: '3.5.0'
    breaking: false
    additions: false
    highlights: >-
      API bug fix — integer values were returning 0 instead of null for suppressed
      or unavailable data. Federal Student Aid derived metrics updated. This is the
      most recent entry that changes API response semantics rather than data values.
  - date: '2024-12-09'
    version: '3.4.0'
    breaking: false
    additions: false
    highlights: >-
      Upgrade to the website's core framework for performance and maintainability;
      no underlying data change.
  - date: '2024-10-10'
    version: '3.2.5'
    breaking: false
    additions: false
    highlights: >-
      Federal Student Aid source metrics updated and minority-serving institution
      data refreshed from the Office of Postsecondary Education.
  - date: '2024-07-01'
    version: '3.2.2'
    breaking: false
    additions: true
    highlights: >-
      The API Documentation page was added, giving detailed parameter examples for
      querying the College Scorecard API. This is the origin of the reference page
      this record points at.
entry_count: 9
window: 2024-07-01..2026-06-10