Federal primary locations
FSA snapshot 2026-08-23; records since 1990.
Coverage, vintages,
and changes disclosed.
This ledger makes the tracker’s scope auditable. Counts describe records covered—not claims of completeness beyond the stated sources.
Historically matched degree-granting closures
1,897 records matched across academic years 1996–97 through 2023–24.
Institutions monitored
Scorecard vintage 2023–24 / May 2025 release; HCM vintage 2026-03-01.
Final data audit · August 27, 2026
Download audit JSON ↓Publication checks and exceptions.
Published primary-location records3,769Matches metadata
Duplicate OPEID8 values0Pass
Missing or invalid closure dates0Pass
Degree-granting historical matches617Classified
Matched non-degree-granting records1,280Classified
Unmatched or pre-coverage records1,872Kept unclassified
50-state + DC map records3,693Mapped
Puerto Rico + Guam records60Table only
Foreign / no U.S. state records16Table only
Watchlist duplicate UNITIDs0Pass
Program action IDs2750 duplicates
Program records missing source URLs0Pass
ABA records at month precision7Disclosed
The 16 records without a U.S. state are foreign Title IV participants—not unexplained domestic records. Puerto Rico and Guam remain searchable in the table but are outside the 50-state + DC map. Degree-granting status is never inferred for unmatched records.
Coverage matrix · August 28, 2026
Read editorial policy ↗What is covered, by source and definition.
DatasetPublished coveragePrimary evidenceKnown boundary
Institution closures3,769 FSA primary locations since 1990Federal Student Aid weekly closed-school fileLocations are not automatically institutions.
Degree-granting benchmark1,121 annual closures, 1990–91 to 2022–23NCES Digest Table 317.50Annual counts; no row-level institution list.
Current closure announcements5 official 2026 notices awaiting FSA reconciliationState agencies, institutional accreditors, institutionsKept separate until a matching federal record appears.
National watchlist4,907 institutions · 29 accreditation actionsScorecard, FSA, five institutional accreditorsSignals are descriptive, not closure probabilities.
Program actions275 named, source-linked actionsLicensing boards, programmatic accreditors, institutions, and clearly labeled reportingEvidence type is disclosed; accreditation withdrawal is not automatically a closure.
74.5% of testable matched closures met the current enrollment-decline threshold before closing.
Based on 521 degree-granting closures with usable historical enrollment; 388 crossed either the 3-year −15% or 5-year −25% display threshold. This is descriptive recall only. It does not measure false positives and does not validate a closure probability.
Open data
Download the current snapshots.
Each export retains stable identifiers, source classifications, and the fields displayed by the tracker.
August 2026
- Added 26 degree and certificate deletions approved by the Oklahoma State Regents, including affected-student counts and completion timelines where disclosed.
- Replaced vague grouped labels with named programs and clearer teach-out details for Ohio University, Marshall, SUNY Fredonia, Eastern Washington, and Lane Community College.
- Added official 2025–27 program actions from Roanoke College, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Louisiana Board of Regents.
- Expanded teaching-program coverage and added plain-English field filters.
- Audited closure totals, identifiers, dates, state coverage, and degree classifications.
- Expanded FSA closure history to 1990.
- Added historical Scorecard/IPEDS reconciliation and degree-granting classification.
- Added plain-language federal monitoring descriptions and source vintages.
- Added permanent institution profiles, saved colleges, and CSV exports.
- Added a first descriptive enrollment-signal back-test.