Advertising Disclosure

We are a comprehensive resource for current and prospective students. We give individuals the tools they need to make informed decisions about their educational paths and careers. Whether students are looking for financial aid, comparing college programs, or exploring a school’s  accommodations for learners with disabilities, we offer free guides and school rankings that can help reduce the stress of an online college search.

Editorial independence is our top priority. We provide these resources because we believe transparent information and data-driven content are powerful tools for accessing high-quality education. We carry out fact-finding for students, helping them identify schools that fit their ambitions, geographic location, and financial circumstances.

We generate revenue by advertising certain programs on behalf of schools that compensate us for student referrals. We strive to be as transparent as possible when it comes to distinguishing between our advertisements and our editorial content.

We clearly identify our advertising placements with terms like “ad,” “sponsored,” or “advertising disclosure.” When users interact with one of these advertisements, or when they make school selections using our program search tool, we may receive compensation.

We may also make money through affiliate partners (e-commerce links). If a user clicks on a product link and makes a purchase on the vendor’s site, we may earn a commission. Our writers and editors make independent product recommendations without influence from our business team. We take steps to ensure our site is accurate and up to date, but some information might differ from what is found on a vendor’s website. All products are presented without warranty.

In addition, we partner with trusted educational institution to produce sponsored content for the benefit of students. Any editorial content sponsored by a partner is written by staff writers and carefully reviewed to meet our editorial standards and best practices.

We take steps to ensure our readers know the difference between sponsored and non-sponsored content on our website by displaying clear advertising disclosures as well as information on the educational institutions that are sponsoring the content. We may present advertising messages, advertisements, or sponsored posts in our social media channels

Our proprietary methodology for evaluating college programs helps eliminate bias from our guides and rankings. The data sources we use, which include the National Center for Education Statistics, the Common Data Set Initiative, and Peterson’s, are all recognized for providing accurate information about education and occupations around the United States. 

We may also collect our own data through online surveys when we believe such data would provide a more complete and valuable experience for the user in making a college selection. In addition to maintaining the highest standards for our sources, we use the following guidelines to ensure we remain impartial and independent in our content:

• We do not rank schools or programs based on any type of financial relationship with a school partner.
• Schools never receive preferential treatment. For each of our core rankings, we evaluate all schools using the same criteria, awarding total scores that reflect the hard data. We only assign ranking scores that directly reflect variables such as admission rates, retention rates, and program costs.
• We take editorial integrity seriously and are constantly evaluating our content for bias, regency, and accuracy. Our writers, editors, and reviewers all abide by a consistent set of editorial standards. These standards help ensure responsible journalism and the balanced presentation of facts. To learn more, check out our editorial process.
• All schools in our degree rankings are nationally or regionally accredited, providing an extra layer of quality assurance and transparency in our rankings.