New Data Can Help Families Figure Out the Payoff of 45,000 College Programs by Kaitlin Mulhere Families finally have access to data that may help them answer the now-common question: Is college “worth it” financially? The federal government last Wednesday released median salaries and median debt load broken down by academic program in a bid to give students more information as they make enrollment decisions. The data is an update to the College Scorecard, the U.S.