Data sources and methods
Every figure in the College Finder comes from a public dataset published by the U.S. federal government. Most are reproduced exactly as published. The rest are calculated from federal figures, and each calculation is set out below. Campus photographs are the one exception and are not federal; their source is in the table.
The year is stated for every dataset. Nothing is adjusted for inflation, rescaled, or smoothed. Where we calculate a figure rather than reproduce one, it is listed below with its formula and its limits. Each publisher links to the agency page we take the data from.
Data sources
| Dataset | Published by | Coverage | Year | Produces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPEDS Institutional Characteristics | U.S. Department of Education, NCES | Colleges participating in federal student aid | 2024 | Name, city, state, coordinates, enrollment band, ownership, award level, setting, HBCU status, website, net price calculator link |
| College Scorecard | U.S. Department of Education | Students receiving federal financial aid | Released 10 June 2026 | Net price, admission rate, graduation rate, median earnings ten years after entry |
| IPEDS Student Financial Aid | NCES | Full-time, first-time undergraduates receiving aid. Public colleges: students awarded grant or scholarship aid, in-state. Private colleges: federal aid recipients | 2022-23 | Net price by family income band |
| IPEDS Admissions | NCES | Enrolled students who submitted a test score | 2023 | SAT section ranges, submission share |
| IPEDS Completions | NCES | Credentials awarded in the reporting year | 2024 | Fields of study |
| Financial Responsibility Composite Scores | U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid | Private nonprofit and for-profit colleges. Public colleges are exempt because their state stands behind their obligations, so no score exists for them. A blank is not a passing score | Fiscal year 2022-23 | Financial responsibility composite score |
| IPEDS Finance | NCES | All sectors | 2022-23 | Endowment assets |
| IPEDS 12-month Enrollment | NCES | All students, undergraduate and graduate | 2023 | Total enrollment |
| ZIP Code Tabulation Area Gazetteer | U.S. Census Bureau | ZIP code geographic centers | Current release | Distance from a searched ZIP code |
| Campus photographs | Wikimedia Commons contributors | Freely licensed images | Varies | Photographs, credited to the photographer in Details |
About net price by family income
Colleges award more grant aid to families with less income, so a single average net price describes very few families well. The Department publishes the same net price split into five family-income bands, and we show all five as published.
Two things about the bands are worth knowing before comparing them. The income cutoffs are fixed dollar amounts that are not adjusted for inflation, so the top band takes in more families each year. And the figure for a band is the average for everyone in it, not a quote: a family at the bottom of a band and one at the top will not pay the same.
The Department reports this through two different collections, and which one applies depends on the college. Public colleges report the net price for students awarded any grant or scholarship aid, on the in-state basis. Private colleges report it for students receiving federal aid. We use whichever collection covers the college, matching the population already behind that college's average net price, so the average and the bands describe the same students.
Neither collection covers every college, and not every college has a figure for all five bands. Where the Department published none, it marks the band "not applicable" and gives no further reason, so that is what we show. We do not know why a particular band is empty, and the obvious explanation is not reliable: 182 colleges have an empty band sitting between two bands that were reported, which is not what a band with nobody in it would look like.
These are reproduced as published. Nothing here is interpolated, smoothed, or filled in from a neighboring band.
About the composite score
The U.S. Department of Education calculates a financial responsibility composite score for each private nonprofit and for-profit college from that college's audited financial statements. The Department sets the scale, which runs from -1.0 to 3.0, and the standard. A score of 1.5 or above meets the standard. Between 1.0 and 1.49 a college still qualifies but is placed under additional Department oversight. Below 1.0 a college does not meet the standard and must post financial protection or accept other conditions to keep offering federal student aid. We publish the Department's number and nothing else.
A score below the standard is the Department's measure of one past fiscal year. It is not a finding of mismanagement, not a prediction that a college will close, and not our opinion of the college. Colleges below the standard continue to operate and to receive federal student aid.
The scores shown are for fiscal year 2022-23, the most recent the Department has published. These come from audited accounts that take two to three years to work through the system, so a college's finances may have changed since. Scores can also be appealed and revised.
The Department publishes this score against a college's federal aid identifier, which can cover more than one campus, while every other figure here is per campus. Where a group of campuses shares one identifier we show the score against the main campus only, and its sister campuses show no score rather than a number that was not calculated for them.
Calculated figures
Figures not listed here are reproduced as published.
| Figure | Formula | Inputs | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endowment per student | endowment assets / total enrollment |
IPEDS Finance 2022-23, IPEDS 12-month Enrollment 2023 | Both inputs are taken from the same year. Enrollment includes graduate students. Endowments contain donor-restricted funds that cannot be spent on operations, so the figure overstates available money. Public and private institutions are not comparable on this measure, as states fund public universities directly |
| SAT range, 1600 scale | reading and writing range + mathematics range |
IPEDS Admissions 2023 | No combined figure is published federally. The lowest scorer in one section is rarely the lowest in the other, so the combined range is wider than the true middle half. Suppressed where fewer than 50 students submitted a score |
| Distance | straight line from ZIP centroid to college coordinates |
Census ZCTA Gazetteer, IPEDS Institutional Characteristics 2024 | Driving distance is longer. A ZIP centroid is not an address |
| Graduation rate | share completing within 150% of normal program length |
College Scorecard, released 10 June 2026 | Six years for a four-year degree. We use the four-year institution rate, or the rate for shorter programs where no four-year rate is reported. Counts first-time, full-time students only. A student who transfers and graduates elsewhere counts as not graduating |
Verification
Before each release, a separate automated process re-derives every published federal figure from the raw source files and compares it to the value about to be published, matched on each institution's federal identification number. Any mismatch stops the release.
This checks that our figures match the federal source files as we downloaded them. It does not check that the federal data is correct, current, or complete, and we make no promise that it is. Photographs are not covered by this check.
Licensing
The federal datasets above are works of the U.S. government and are in the public domain. We obtain them directly from the publishing agency, not from a commercial aggregator, so no federal figure here depends on another company's licensing terms.
Campus photographs are the exception. They are not federal and not public domain. Each is used under the license its contributor chose, and each is shown with the photographer, the license name, and a link to the license.
Some links elsewhere on this site earn us a commission. See our affiliate disclosure. Commercial relationships have no effect on any figure shown here, or on which colleges appear.
This site is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the U.S. Department of Education, the Census Bureau, or any college shown.
Corrections
Think a figure is wrong? Email contact@collegeboundlife.com with the college name and the figure. We check it against the federal source and correct it or remove it. Colleges are welcome to write to us directly.
Data last refreshed 2026-08-08.
Checked against primary sources on 2026-08-08. Rules in this area change; verify anything you are about to act on.