Methodology

Where our data comes from

We start with the U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System), the federal database every accredited college reports to annually. From IPEDS we pull each school's location, size, control type (public/private), acceptance rate, SAT and ACT score ranges, published tuition and cost of attendance, the average net price paid by families in each income bracket, and the full list of undergraduate degree programs each school offers.

For merit aid specifically, IPEDS doesn't publish enough detail to be useful, so we read each school's official financial aid pages directly. Our system reviews each school's scholarship and merit aid pages, extracts the named scholarships, requirements, and award amounts, and flags schools that offer guaranteed or competitive merit aid based on stats. Where a school publishes a Common Data Set, we also read how many freshmen without financial need received merit awards and how large those awards were.

Every scholarship we show keeps the exact wording from the school's page and a link back to it. Each extraction is checked automatically against the source page; anything unclear or unusual goes to a person on our team before families see it. Schools whose merit details are still being reviewed show "merit aid info pending verification" instead of dollar amounts. We recheck every school's aid page monthly and re-read it when it changes.

How we filter by major

When you tell us your student's intended major, we only show schools that actually award undergraduate degrees in that field. We use IPEDS Completions data, which lists every degree program awarded by every school each year. We filter to Bachelor's-level programs only. Graduate-only institutions and certificate programs are excluded.

Each major in our intake form maps to one or more CIP codes (the federal Classification of Instructional Programs). A student picking Mechanical Engineering only sees schools that grant Bachelor's degrees in CIP code 14.19 (Mechanical Engineering). A student picking Computer Science only sees schools that offer CIP 11.07.

For pre-professional tracks like Pre-Med, Pre-Law, or Pre-Veterinary, which aren't actual degree programs, we match schools that offer the standard prerequisite majors. Pre-Med matches schools with strong biology, chemistry, and biochemistry programs.

Students who pick "Undecided" or "Interdisciplinary" see the broadest set of schools, filtered only by your other preferences.

How we classify likely, target, and reach

Every college is categorized as one of three tiers relative to the student's academic profile:

For students applying without a test score, or schools that don't report score ranges, we use the acceptance rate instead: 60% or higher is Likely, 30% to 59% is Target, and under 30% is Reach.

We apply two adjustments after the initial classification:

• In-state flagship bump. State flagship universities typically admit in-state students at substantially higher rates than out-of-state applicants. If a student's state flagship would otherwise be a target or reach, we move it up one tier (except at schools that admit fewer than 15% of applicants).
• Test-optional adjustment. If a student is applying test-optional and the school is highly selective (under 30% acceptance), we move it down one tier. Test-optional applicant pools tend to be more competitive than headline acceptance rates suggest, because the strongest applicants typically submit scores.

The result is a directional estimate of how a student's profile compares to admitted students. It is not a probability of admission, and it does not account for essays, recommendations, demonstrated interest, demographics, intended major, or any of the other factors that colleges actually weigh.

How we estimate net price

Net price is what a family actually pays after grant aid, not the sticker price. We build it in three steps:

1. Start with what families like yours actually paid. Every school reports to the Department of Education the average net price paid by families in five income bands (under $30K, $30-48K, $48-75K, $75-110K, over $110K). We match your income to the closest band: under $50K uses the average of the two lowest bands, $50-75K uses $48-75K, $75-100K uses $75-110K, and $100-200K uses over $110K. Because the government's top band stops at $110K, families above $200K get an adjusted figure that moves toward the full price, since need-based aid shrinks at those incomes. Public schools report this for in-state students, so for out-of-state families we add the school's published out-of-state cost difference. When a school has not reported bracket data, we fall back to its cost of attendance minus its average institutional grant, scaled for your income, plus an estimated Pell grant for lower-income families.
2. Subtract the automatic merit aid your student qualifies for. Where a school publishes a guaranteed award with clear thresholds (for example, "GPA 3.5 and SAT 1300 earns $15,000 a year") and your student meets them, we subtract that award and show it by name. Awards limited to certain states, majors, or transfer students are only applied when your student qualifies.
3. Subtract state programs your family qualifies for. Programs such as Florida Bright Futures, Georgia HOPE and Zell Miller, Louisiana TOPS, New York Excelsior, and Cal Grant are matched on your home state, the school, and your student's record or your income, and shown as a separate line.

We show net price as a range rather than a single number to honestly reflect uncertainty. Schools with reported bracket prices get a tighter range and a "high confidence" label; the card tells you which income bracket the figure is based on. Schools missing data fall back to broader estimates with "medium" or "low confidence."

What our estimates don't capture: competitive scholarships that require a separate application are listed for each school but not subtracted, because they are not guaranteed. Regional tuition exchanges (WUE, MSEP) are shown as a possible saving, not applied, since campuses limit them. Also not captured: athletic scholarships, outside scholarships, sibling discounts, payment plans, and work-study. Every school card links to that school's own Net Price Calculator, which is the only authoritative estimate; use it before deciding.

How we identify merit aid

For each school in our database, we review the institution's published scholarship pages and identify whether the school offers institutional merit aid (scholarships based on academic, artistic, or other achievement, not need). We categorize each school's merit aid offering as:

• Guaranteed. Awards a family can count on if the student meets specific published criteria (e.g., "GPA 3.5+ = $15,000/year automatic").
• Competitive. Awards based on application but not guaranteed (e.g., "Presidential Scholarship: 20 students per year selected from full applicant pool").
• Both. School offers some guaranteed awards and some competitive ones.
• None. School does not offer merit-based institutional aid, only need-based. This is the case for most highly-selective private schools (Harvard, Stanford, etc.) and public schools that prioritize need-based aid.

We track scholarship names, eligibility criteria, award amounts, and any limits on who can receive an award (state residency, intended major, or transfer students only), with a link to the school's page for each.

What we can't tell you

College admissions decisions involve factors we don't have data on. Here are the most important things our matching algorithm cannot predict:

• Holistic admissions. At schools with under 25% acceptance rates, admissions officers weight essays, recommendations, leadership, and qualitative factors heavily. A 1550 SAT student is rejected from Harvard far more often than admitted.
• Demonstrated interest. Many private schools (especially mid-tier) track whether you've visited, opened their emails, or interviewed. Students who demonstrate interest are admitted at higher rates.
• Major selectivity. Some schools admit by major, where Engineering or Nursing applicants face very different odds than Liberal Arts applicants at the same university. We filter for whether a major is offered, but not for major-specific admission rates.
• Geographic and demographic preferences. Schools often favor students from underrepresented states or backgrounds.
• Financial aid packaging. Two students with identical financial situations can receive very different aid offers from the same school. Each school's individual Net Price Calculator is the only authoritative source for what your family will pay.
• Year-over-year changes. Acceptance rates and aid policies change. We update our data annually but the most recent IPEDS reporting is typically 12-18 months old by the time it's published.

When we update

IPEDS publishes new data each fall covering the prior academic year. We refresh our school data after each new IPEDS release. Merit aid information is reviewed and updated continuously as schools change their scholarship pages and as our review team works through the database.