Our Methodology

Choosing a college is a high-stakes financial and life decision. You deserve to know exactly where our tuition, admissions, and outcomes figures come from, and what only the college's admissions office and your specific financial aid package can tell you about your real cost.

Primary source: US Department of Education College Scorecard

Every college figure on DegreeWize is anchored in the US Department of Education College Scorecard. College Scorecard is the federal authoritative database of US college outcomes, covering roughly 6,000 institutions with standardized data on cost, admissions, completion, and post-graduation earnings.

Other primary sources

• IPEDS (NCES) — the National Center for Education Statistics' comprehensive database of US higher education institutions. Required reporting for every Title IV-eligible institution.
• Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) — the federal source for grants, loans, and work-study eligibility.
• Common Data Set Initiative — the standardized data format used by US colleges for sharing institutional information.
• Carnegie Classifications — the standard taxonomy for US higher education institutions.

What we publish per college

• Name, location, ownership
• Tuition (in-state and out-of-state)
• Acceptance rate
• SAT average
• Enrollment
• Graduation rate
• Median student debt at graduation
• Median earnings 10 years after entry— from College Scorecard, based on federal tax records.

Cross-reference and verification

• College Scorecard — the primary source.
• The college's own Net Price Calculator — federally required for all Title IV institutions.
• The college's admissions office — the authoritative source for current admissions requirements.
• A high school college counselor — for personalized guidance.

Update frequency

College Scorecard updates annually, typically in September-October. IPEDS updates annually. We refresh our combined dataset within days of each release.

Limitations you should know about

• Sticker price ≠ actual cost.Most students pay less than the published tuition. Use the college's Net Price Calculator for a personalized estimate.
• Median earnings include all majors.Engineering and CS graduates typically earn dramatically more than humanities graduates from the same school.
• Acceptance rate context matters. Same rate can mean different things at different schools.
• Data lag. College Scorecard lags 1-3 years for most metrics.
• Outcomes are correlational, not causal.High earnings at a college may reflect selection more than value-add.
• Not college admissions or financial aid advice.For your specific situation, work with your high school counselor and the colleges' admissions offices.

Corrections and feedback

If a published College Scorecard or IPEDS figure disagrees with what you see here, please contact us with the source URL.

This methodology page was last reviewed in March 2026. Material changes to how we source or compute the data will be reflected here before they reach production pages.