What it is
The College Almanac covers all 3,964 degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States, using the figures colleges report to the federal government: the College Scorecard, IPEDS and other public datasets. Each figure is labeled with its source and the year it describes.
It's free to search and compare, with no account needed. There are no ads and no rankings, and colleges can't pay to appear or to be listed higher. It's published by Auriginal LLC, an independent company in Virginia; more on that is on the About page.
Where students can start
- Find a college: search by name, place, size or cost, or browse the colleges in each state, from Virginia to California.
- Fields of study: which colleges award bachelor's degrees in nursing, engineering or any other field, with what graduates earn and owe.
- College pages: average net price by family income, graduation and retention, campus safety reports, and the town around campus. Boston College's page is one example.
- Compare up to four colleges side by side, and see them on the map.
- Planning tools: a saved My list, an application calendar, a campus visit planner and a cost estimate. Families add their own dates and notes; the Almanac doesn't supply deadlines.
What they won't find
- Rankings, “best colleges” lists or scores of any kind.
- Predictions of a student's chances of admission.
- Application deadlines and requirements. They aren't in federal data and change every year, so each college page points students to the college's own admissions website instead.
- Reviews, rumors or sponsored listings.
Student privacy
Students don't need an account, an email address or a phone number. The colleges they save, their notes and their plans stay in their own browser and aren't uploaded. The site doesn't set cookies or use advertising, social-media or cross-site tracking pixels. Page visits are counted with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which never includes the colleges a student saves or anything they write.
The full details are in the privacy notice.
Ways to use it with students
- With juniors building a first list, start from a field of study or their home state, then save the colleges worth a closer look.
- Before families rule a college out on its sticker price, open its page and look at the average net price for their income range.
- When a student is choosing between a few colleges, put them in Compare and talk through the rows where they differ.
- Students can text a college's card to a parent; it opens on any phone, with a link to the full page.
- In aid-offer season, the costs on each college page are a starting point for reading an offer against what students there typically pay.
Share it with families
A one-page handout prints on letter paper for parent nights and college folders. For a newsletter or your school's resource page, this paragraph is free to use:
The College Almanac (thecollegealmanac.com) is a free guide to every degree-granting college in the United States, built from federal data. Families can look up what a college costs after aid, how many students graduate, and which colleges offer a field of study, then save and compare their choices. There are no ads, no rankings and no accounts, and colleges can't pay to appear.
Questions or corrections
Write to contact@auriginal.app. If you spot a figure that looks wrong, the corrections page takes the details and the source you're comparing it with.