How our data works

Every number on our college pages comes from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard. Scorecard combines what colleges report to the federal government (through the IPEDS surveys) with federal student aid and tax records. We don't edit the numbers; we choose which ones to show, explain them in plain words, and link every school back to its Scorecard page.

Which schools are included

1,888 schools: every currently operating college in the 50 states and DC whose main credential is a bachelor's degree or higher. Schools that mainly award certificates or associate degrees will appear with trade schools and community colleges later. For-profit colleges are included and labeled.

Graduate-only schools (seminaries, medical and other professional schools that report no undergraduates) still have a page, but we leave them out of the directory and search results, since you can't start there after high school. So do colleges that have closed or been absorbed into another school; their pages carry a notice with the source.

How often we update

We check Scorecard every week and rebuild the site when anything changes. The current data was pulled on November 4, 2026. Every pull is kept as a dated snapshot, so we can show what changed and when.

What each number means

Admit rate: Share of first-year applicants who were offered admission. Schools with open admission don't report one; we say so instead.
Test policy: What the school told the federal government about SAT and ACT scores: required, recommended, considered if sent (test-optional), or not considered (test-blind). Policies change, so confirm on the school's website.
SAT and ACT ranges: The middle 50% of scores among enrolled first-year students who sent scores. A quarter scored below the low number and a quarter above the high one. At test-optional schools these students may score higher than applicants overall.
Average net price: What full-time first-year students who received grant aid paid on average, after grants and scholarships. It includes tuition, fees, books, and living costs. By income band, it shows the same thing for families in each income range.
Total cost of attendance: The sticker price for a year before any aid, including housing and other costs.
Graduation rate: Share of first-time, full-time students who finished within six years (150% of normal time).
Came back for year two: Share of full-time first-year students who returned the following fall.
Median earnings: Middle earnings of former students ten years after they started, among those who received federal aid. It doesn't cover students who never got federal aid.
Median debt at graduation: Middle amount of federal student loan debt among students who finished. Private loans and parent loans aren't included.
Pell grants and first-generation share: Share of undergraduates receiving federal Pell grants (which go to lower-income students), and share whose parents' highest education was high school or less.

"What's special" notes

Some school pages have a short list of facts that set the school apart, like a co-op program, a tuition guarantee or an unusual admissions rule. We write each one ourselves from a linked source, usually the school's own site, and every fact is checked against that source before it goes live. Each fact links to where it came from, and each list shows the date it was last checked. Schools can't pay for or write these notes.

Numbers from a school's own report

For a growing list of schools, the "Getting in" section also shows numbers from the school's Common Data Set: a standard report most colleges publish each year about their applicants and first-year students. It covers the high school GPA spread, early decision and wait list numbers, test scores, class rank, and how much the admissions office says each factor counts.

We read each value straight from the school's report and link to it. Before a number goes live it has to pass consistency checks: the admit rate in the report has to be close to the federal figure, the GPA percentages have to add up to about 100, test score ranges have to be in order and close to the federal ranges, and early decision admits can't exceed applicants. Anything that fails is left out rather than guessed. Reports are for a recent year and can differ a little from the federal data, which lags by a year or two.

Where you'd stand

On a school's page you can enter your GPA and test scores to see how they compare with that school's first-year students: which GPA range you'd fall in and how many students had a higher or lower one, and whether your SAT or ACT score is below, inside or above the middle half of scores. We use the school's Common Data Set when we have it and federal data otherwise, and we say which.

It doesn't give you a percent chance of getting in. No public source tells us how a particular applicant's odds work, and admission at selective schools depends a lot on essays, recommendations and other things numbers can't capture, so a percentage would be a guess dressed up as a fact. Your numbers stay in your browser. We don't store or send them.

You can also save schools to My list, which shows where you'd stand at each saved school on one page, along with its admit rate, average net price and graduation rate. Your list stays in your browser too.

Trade schools and two-year colleges

The trades section covers 3,402 schools from the same College Scorecard data: currently operating schools whose most common award is a certificate (trade, career and technical schools) or an associate degree (two-year and community colleges). We last pulled it on November 5, 2026, and it updates every week.

We group federal program codes into 28 trades a student would recognize, like electrician or medical assisting. The grouping is ours; the program names, completions and earnings are the federal government's. Programs that don't fit a trade we cover are still listed on each school's page.

Finished last year: How many students completed that program at that school in the latest year reported.
Program earnings: Median earnings one year after finishing, for graduates of that program at that school who received federal student aid. These cover graduates from a few years back and are only published when enough students are counted, so most programs don't have them. Where a school's figure is missing, we show the national median for everyone who finished that kind of program, labelled as national.
Finish their program: Share of first-time, full-time students who finished within one and a half times the normal length of their program, for the whole school.
Median earnings 6 and 10 years after starting: For all students at the school who received federal aid, whether or not they finished.

Most trade and career schools are run for profit. We flag that on each for-profit school's page and suggest comparing with public options, because completion, earnings and debt vary widely.

Apprenticeships

The apprenticeship guide is organized by job, not by program, because the Department of Labor doesn't publish a downloadable list of individual apprenticeship programs. It covers 29 jobs. We include a job only if the Bureau of Labor Statistics names apprenticeship as its typical training, or its Occupational Outlook Handbook page describes an apprenticeship route; we quote those sentences on the page.

Pay is from the BLS wage survey (May 2025) and covers all workers in the job, so apprentices usually start lower. Jobs, openings and growth are BLS Employment Projections (2025–35). To find actual openings, each page links to the Department of Labor's apprenticeship finder, and where it fits, to schools that teach the same trade.

What we don't do

We don't rank colleges, and no school can pay to appear higher or look better. Sorting options are plain facts, like price or graduation rate. "Similar schools" are picked by size, selectivity, price, type and location, never by payment.

Coming next

Common Data Set numbers for more schools, "What's special" notes for more schools, and trade schools, apprenticeships, gap years and fellowships alongside colleges.

Found a mistake?

Email hello@afterhighschool.me with the school and the number. We check every report.