About PlainCollege

What is PlainCollege?

PlainCollege is a free tool for exploring college data, graduate earnings, and student outcomes across more than 6,000 U.S. institutions. We make it easy to compare schools by tuition costs, admission rates, program-level earnings, and long-term outcomes—all in one place.

Our Data Source

All data on PlainCollege comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, a federal dataset that tracks institutional characteristics, costs, admissions, student demographics, and post-graduation earnings. We also incorporate data from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year estimates where applicable.

The College Scorecard is updated annually and covers Title IV institutions—colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs. This includes public universities, private nonprofit colleges, and private for-profit institutions.

What You Can Find

• School profiles — Enrollment, location, ownership type, Carnegie classification, and institutional website
• Admissions data — Acceptance rates, average SAT and ACT scores, and score ranges
• Costs & financial aid — In-state and out-of-state tuition, average net price by family income, Pell Grant rates, and median student debt
• Student demographics — Racial and ethnic composition, gender breakdown, first-generation student rates, and average age
• Outcomes — Completion rates (4-year and 6-year), retention rates, median earnings at 6 and 10 years after enrollment, and loan repayment rates
• Program-level earnings — Median earnings and debt for over 2,200 programs (fields of study) at individual schools

How to Use PlainCollege

• Browse by state — Visit the States page to explore schools in any U.S. state or territory
• Search by name — Use the Search page to find schools by name, city, or ZIP code
• Explore programs — Browse Programs to see which fields of study offer the highest earnings
• Compare schools — Use the Compare tool to view side-by-side data for up to 4 schools
• View rankings — Check our Rankings for highest-earning graduates, most selective schools, best value, and largest institutions

Data Methodology

College Scorecard data is compiled by the U.S. Department of Education from institutional reports (IPEDS), federal financial aid records, and tax data. Earnings figures represent median earnings of former students who received federal financial aid, measured at various time points after enrollment.

Program-level earnings reflect median earnings by field of study (CIP code) at individual institutions. Not all school-program combinations have reported earnings due to privacy thresholds—data is suppressed when fewer than 30 students are in a cohort.

Limitations: Earnings data covers only students who received federal financial aid, which may not represent all graduates. Admission rates and test scores reflect first-time, full-time students. Completion rates track first-time, full-time students at 4-year and 6-year benchmarks.