Reading college data
The College Scorecard is a free federal data set published by the U.S. Department of Education. It is the main source for the college numbers on this site. This guide explains what the main measures mean and what to be careful about before you compare colleges.
The Scorecard combines information that colleges report to the government with data from federal student aid and tax records. Because different parts come from different sources, each measure covers a different group of students and a different year. A single college page can mix fall 2022 enrollment with graduation for students who started years earlier.
Every figure on a FunSAT college profile is labeled with its period, and the open dataset lists the period for each field.
Net price is the average yearly cost for students who received federal aid, after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the cost of attendance. It is more useful than the published price. The next guide, net price vs sticker price, explains the difference. Your own net price depends on your family finances, so use the college's net price calculator for a personal estimate.
The graduation rate follows first-time, full-time students and counts those who finish a bachelor's degree at the same college within six years. It leaves out part-time students and students who transfer in, and it counts a student who finishes at another college as not graduating. Retention is the share of first-time students who come back for a second year.
Both measures partly reflect who enrolls. A college with well-prepared students can have a high rate without doing anything unusual, so compare colleges with similar students.
Median earnings are for students who received federal aid and were working and not enrolled about ten years after they started. They reflect majors, location and who enrolls, and they describe students who started long before today's applicants. Median debt is the federal loan debt of students who borrowed and completed. It leaves out students who did not borrow, students who left without a degree, and private loans.
The SAT and ACT ranges are the 25th to 75th percentile of enrolled students who submitted scores. The acceptance rate is admitted students divided by applicants for one year. Neither is a cutoff. See how colleges use the middle 50% range for the details.
Some numbers are missing for some colleges, because a college did not report them or because the group was too small to share. A missing value is not a zero. On our ranked lists, colleges with a missing value are left out, and on profile pages the field shows as not reported. One example is the cohort default rate, which is reported as 0 for nearly every college in the release we use, so we do not rank on it. See the notes on the data page.
The comparison tool and the ranked lists use these measures with their caveats written next to them.
No. It is a data set, and it does not rank colleges. Any ranking built from it, including ours, sorts one measure at a time.
The release is recent, but each measure describes an earlier period, such as fall 2022 enrollment or students who started in 2016. The period is labeled on each profile.
The college may not report it, or the group may be too small. A missing value is not zero, and you can ask the college directly.
Last reviewed 2026-10-14. This guide is general information, not advice for your situation. Test and admissions policies change, so check the official College Board, ACT or college page for the current rule.
FunSAT is a free browser-based SAT and ACT prep app: digital SAT and ACT practice tests, unofficial score calculators, a built-in graphing calculator, college admissions chances from official U.S. Department of Education data, and a scholarship search. Start free practice →