Every number on AdmitFacts is copied by code from a federal bulk data file. Nothing is typed in by hand, nothing is estimated, and nothing comes from a college's marketing page. When a college left a field empty, the page says Not reported.

Where the numbers come from

Admissions numbers come from IPEDS, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System run by the National Center for Education Statistics. Every college that takes part in federal student aid has to answer it each year. We use the admissions files for fall 2014 to fall 2023 and, for fall 2013, the Institutional Characteristics file that held those questions before the admissions survey was split out. Undergraduate enrollment comes from the IPEDS fall enrollment file for fall 2023.

Cost, net price, graduation, earnings and debt come from the College Scorecard published by the U.S. Department of Education. Each Scorecard field covers its own year, which we take from the Scorecard data dictionary and print next to the number. The full list of files, with release dates and checksums, is on the sources page.

Admit rate

The admit rate is the number of admitted first-year students divided by the number of applicants, as the college reported both to IPEDS for the same fall, rounded to one decimal. We use a value only when IPEDS marks it as reported by the college; imputed values are treated as Not reported. A year without both counts is a gap in the trend, not a guess.

Test policy and score ranges

IPEDS asks each college how it uses SAT and ACT scores. For fall 2023 the answers are: required to be considered for admission; not required but considered if submitted (test-optional); or not considered even if submitted (test-blind). Score ranges are the 25th and 75th percentiles of enrolled first-year students who submitted scores. At test-optional colleges those students are a subset of the class, so the range describes submitters only.

Sticker price and net price

Tuition and fees are the published price. The cost of attendance adds housing, food, books and other expenses. Net price is the cost of attendance minus the grants and scholarships students actually received, averaged over first-time, full-time students with federal aid; at public colleges it covers students paying the in-state rate. The Scorecard splits net price into five family income bands, which is why a private college with a high sticker price can cost a low-income family less than a public university.

Graduation, earnings and debt

The graduation rate is the share of first-time, full-time students who finished within 6 years. Earnings are the median annual earnings of former students who received federal aid, measured 10 years after they entered. Debt is the median federal loan debt of graduates. All three come from the Scorecard and refer to the cohorts named next to each number.

State comparisons

State medians are computed over every currently operating college in the Scorecard file whose main award is the bachelor's degree, not only the colleges on this site. Each median shows how many colleges it covers. Public colleges are compared with public colleges and private nonprofit colleges with private nonprofit colleges.

The written explanations

Each explanation is written from the college's stored numbers only. Every sentence lists the fields it relies on, and a code check compares every number in the sentence with those fields before the page can appear in search results. A sentence that does not match keeps the page out of search engines until it is fixed. Sentences that repeat on other college pages do not count toward a page's own text.

Which pages search engines see

A college page is offered to search engines only when it has the admit rate for fall 2023, at least 5 falls of trend, its tuition, at least 8 further facts, at least 150 words of its own checked explanation and is not too similar to another page. Other pages stay online for visitors but carry a noindex tag. State pages need their own introduction and at least 3 such colleges; lists need an introduction and at least 10 entries.

Updates and corrections

IPEDS and the Scorecard publish new files once or twice a year. When a new file comes out we import it, recheck every explanation against the new numbers and update the Checked date. If you find a figure that does not match the federal file, write to contact@admitfacts.com.