About CollegeCompare
What We Do
CollegeCompare helps students and families compare colleges and universities across key metrics — acceptance rates, tuition costs, graduation rates, enrollment size, and more. Whether you're a high school junior building a college list or a parent evaluating financial aid packages, our side-by-side comparisons give you the data you need to make informed decisions about higher education.
Our Data Sources
Every comparison on CollegeCompare is built from authoritative, publicly available data sources:
- U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard API — the federal government's comprehensive dataset on institutional performance and student outcomes.
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) — the primary federal data collection program for postsecondary education statistics.
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) — the principal statistical agency within the U.S. Department of Education.
- Official institutional websites — for supplementary details such as program offerings and campus characteristics.
Our Methodology
We ingest data from the College Scorecard API, which aggregates federal reporting from accredited institutions nationwide. Metrics include net price, median earnings after graduation, completion rates, and student demographics. We present this data in side-by-side comparisons so you can evaluate trade-offs between cost, outcomes, and campus characteristics.
Our goal is clarity, not ranking. We don't assign proprietary scores or create subjective tier lists. Instead, we surface the numbers that matter and let you weigh them according to your own priorities.
Editorial Standards
All statistics on CollegeCompare come from federally mandated institutional reporting. We present data as reported without editorial adjustment. Data is refreshed when new Scorecard releases are published by the Department of Education. We do not accept payment from institutions to influence comparisons or placement on our site.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or feedback? Reach us at contact@collegevs.com.