This metric is looking for the percentage of students graduating with no interest-bearing student loan debt:

For WikiRate researchers:

Institutions who report to the STARS program are listed on the STARS Participants & Reports website.

• Use the institution Index, CTRL F, or Command F to search for the institution you want to research
  

• By clicking on the hyperlinked name of the institution, you will be redirected to the page where all their STARS reports are listed. You can select either the most recent report, or one of the older reports to start tracking their performance over time.

  NB: While the values in the reports might apply to different points in time (performance year, baseline year, most recent, etc.), the submission date of the report should be listed as the “year” on WikiRate. This is to ensure that reports of the same submission year can be compared. Any time specific information for the individual values should be included in the comment to that specific metric value.   

• To narrow down your search, navigate the reports’ index using the Reporting Category - Planning & Administration - and Credit Category - Diversity & Affordability - to finally select the Credit Title: Affordability and Access.

• You should now be on the report page that discloses the percentage of students graduating with no interest-bearing student loan debt. To locate the exact value you can search the page using CTRL F or Command F with keywords like student loan, student debt, and interest-bearing.

• Always check the metric question and methodology for the unit of measure or currency - researchers may need to carry out calculations or conversions before entering the final metric value
  

• Add comments to include details of simple or complex calculations or conversions made to determine the metric value and document any relevant contextual information

Further guidance on how to research values is available here, including detailed guidance on adding, editing and checking metric values.

STARS compliance guidance for institutions:

Timeframe
Institutions should report the most recent data available from within the three years prior to the anticipated date of submission.

Sampling and Data Standards
Report on the institution’s largest admissions group or student cohort (e.g., undergraduate students). Institutions may choose to include or omit smaller schools or departments within the institution.

Institutions may report graduation rates, success rates and/or combined graduation/success rates as appropriate to their particular context and types of programs offered.

Institutions may meet student financial need in a variety of ways, for example:

• Scholarships and grants

• Self-help (e.g., work study, employment)

• Tuition waivers or not requiring tuition

• Subsidized or no-interest loans

• Athletic awards

Exclude non-need-based aid, any aid awarded in excess of need, and unsubsidized or interest-bearing loans. Institutions that do not assess student need as a matter of standard practice may report the percentage of cost met, on average, for low-income students.