US College Data Scraper — 139 Fields, All 6,000+ Schools

🎓 The Most Comprehensive US College Data Extractor

Extract 139 data fields for all 6,243+ operating US colleges from the official U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard API. No scraping, no anti-bot, no browser needed — pure API-based, always works.

Perfect for: EdTech platforms, college counselors, student recruitment, market research, academic analysis, college comparison tools, scholarship databases.

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🆚 Why Choose This Scraper?

Feature	This Scraper	ParseForge	Crawler Bros	Niche Schools
Data Fields	139	65	30	20
User-Select Categories	✅ 8 toggle categories	❌ Fixed	❌ Fixed	❌ Fixed
Max Results/Run	2,000	10 (free)	100	100
Sort Options	✅ Earnings/Tuition/Admission	❌	❌	❌
Multi-State Query	✅ Comma-separated	❌ Single	❌ Single	❌
Advanced Filters	✅ 7 filters	⚠️ 2 (state+degree)	⚠️ 2	❌
Own API Key	✅ Supported	❌ Hardcoded	❌ DEMO only	N/A
Rate Limit Handling	✅ Auto-retry 3x	❌ Fails	❌ Fails	❌
Price/1K results	$5	$5.50-6	$3-5	$5

📊 What You Get That Others Don't

Data categories (toggle on/off):

• ✅ Basic Info (31 fields) — Name, location, type, accreditation, Carnegie classification, endowment
• ✅ Tuition & Costs (14 fields) — In/out-of-state, net price by 5 income brackets, room & board
• ✅ Admissions (14 fields) — Admission rate, SAT 25th/75th, ACT 25th/75th, average scores
• ✅ Outcomes (14 fields) — Completion rate, retention rate, median earnings (6/7/8/9/10yr), repayment
• ✅ Demographics (21 fields) — Enrollment, gender, race/ethnicity, first-gen, age
• ✅ Financial Aid (17 fields) — Pell Grant %, loans, median debt by income, debt percentiles
• ✅ Academics (22 fields) — Program percentages by field, degree counts, CIP codes
• ✅ Location (2 fields) — Latitude, longitude

Advanced filters (7 options):

• 🏫 School Type — Public / Private Nonprofit / Private For-Profit
• 🎓 Degree Level — Certificate / Associate / Bachelor / Graduate
• 📈 Admission Rate — Elite (<10%) / Selective (10-30%) / Moderate (30-60%) / Easy (60-90%) / Open (90-100%)
• 💰 Max Tuition — Under $5K / $10K / $15K / $20K / $30K / $50K
• 💵 Min Earnings — Over $30K / $50K / $70K / $100K
• 🔍 Search Mode — By State / By Name / By OPE ID / Top Schools
• 📊 Sort By — Earnings (high→low) / Admission Rate / Tuition (low→high)

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🚀 How to Use (4 Simple Steps)

Step 1: Choose Search Mode

• By State — Enter state code(s): CA or NY,TX,FL
• By Name — Search school name: Stanford or Community College
• By OPE ID — Direct lookup: 002128 (MIT's ID)
• Top Schools — Ranked list by earnings/admission/tuition

Step 2: Apply Filters (Optional)

• School Type — Public / Private Nonprofit / Private For-Profit
• Degree Level — Certificate / Associate / Bachelor / Graduate
• Admission Rate — From Elite (<10%) to Open (90-100%)
• Max Tuition — Filter by affordability
• Min Earnings — Filter by ROI

Step 3: Select Data Categories

Toggle which data to include (8 categories, 139 total fields):

• ☑️ Basic Info, ☑️ Tuition, ☑️ Admissions, ☑️ Outcomes
• ☐ Demographics, ☐ Financial Aid, ☐ Academics, ☐ Location

Step 4: Click "Start"

• Results in 5-30 seconds depending on query size
• Download as JSON, CSV, or Excel

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📋 Example Queries

Query	Filters	Expected Results
Top earning CA schools	State=CA, Sort=Earnings	MIT, Stanford, Caltech...
Affordable 4-year colleges	Degree=Bachelor, Tuition<$10K	State universities, community colleges
Elite private universities	Type=Private, Admission=Elite(<10%)	Harvard, Yale, Princeton...
Best ROI 2-year colleges	Degree=Associate, Sort=Earnings	High-paying trade schools
NY nursing programs	State=NY, Name=Nursing	Nursing schools in New York

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📊 Sample Output

{
  "id": 166683,
  "school_name": "Massachusetts Institute of Technology",
  "school_city": "Cambridge",
  "school_state": "MA",
  "school_school_url": "web.mit.edu/",
  "school_ownership": 2,
  "school_accreditor": "New England Commission on Higher Education",
  "school_carnegie_basic": 15,
  "school_endowment_end": 37631059000,
  "cost_tuition_in_state": 62396,
  "cost_tuition_out_of_state": 62396,
  "cost_attendance_academic_year": 82730,
  "cost_roomboard_oncampus": 20280,
  "cost_net_price_private_by_income_level_0-30000": -2533,
  "admissions_admission_rate_overall": 0.0455,
  "admissions_sat_scores_25th_percentile_math": 780,
  "admissions_sat_scores_75th_percentile_math": 800,
  "admissions_act_scores_25th_percentile_cumulative": 34,
  "admissions_act_scores_75th_percentile_cumulative": 36,
  "completion_completion_rate_4yr_150nt": 0.9641,
  "earnings_10_yrs_after_entry_median": 143372,
  "earnings_6_yrs_after_entry_median": 131633,
  "student_retention_rate_four_year_full_time": 0.9908,
  "aid_pctpell": 0.1932,
  "aid_median_debt_completers_overall": 14768,
  "aid_pell_grant_rate": 0.1932,
  "location_lat": 42.359243,
  "location_lon": -71.093226
}

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💰 Pricing

$5.00 per 1,000 results — Pay only for what you use.

Results	Cost	Use Case
50 schools	~$0.25	Quick research
100 schools	~$0.50	State analysis
500 schools	~$2.50	Regional comparison
1,000 schools	$5.00	Comprehensive study
2,000 schools	$10.00	Multi-state database

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🔑 API Key — Recommended for Best Experience

Why Get Your Own Key?

• DEMO_KEY has rate limits (1,000 requests/hour) — may cause interruptions
• Your own key = unlimited requests, faster scraping, no interruptions
• It's FREE — no credit card, instant signup

How to Get Your Free Key:

1. Go to https://api.data.gov/signup
2. Enter your email and name
3. Click "Signup"
4. Check your email for the API key
5. Paste it in the "API Key" field when running the scraper

What Happens Without Your Key?

• Small queries (<100 results) usually work fine
• Large queries (500+) may hit rate limits and pause
• The scraper will auto-retry 3 times with increasing wait periods
• If all retries fail, you'll get a clear error message with instructions

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🔧 Technical Details

• Data Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard API
• API Type: REST API (JSON response, no browser needed)
• Data Freshness: Updated annually by Dept. of Education
• Coverage: All 6,243+ Title IV participating institutions
• Rate Limit: DEMO_KEY = 1,000 req/hour, Your own key = unlimited
• Pagination: 100 results per page, auto-paginates
• Error Handling: Auto-retry on rate limits, clear error messages

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📋 Changelog

v1.0.0 (2026-06-14) — Initial Release

• ✅ College Scorecard API integration (6,243+ schools)
• ✅ 139 data fields across 8 user-selectable categories
• ✅ 7 advanced filters (state, type, degree, admission, tuition, earnings, name)
• ✅ 4 search modes (byState, byName, byOpeId, topSchools)
• ✅ 3 sort options (earnings, admission, tuition_low)
• ✅ Multi-state comma-separated queries
• ✅ Smart pagination (100/page, auto-paginate)
• ✅ Rate limit handling (auto-retry 3x with backoff)
• ✅ Optional API key support (free at api.data.gov)
• ✅ Full database export (up to 2,000 results per run)

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❓ FAQ

Q: How many schools are in the database? A: 6,243+ operating Title IV institutions (all accredited US colleges).

Q: What's the difference between this and College Navigator? A: Same data source (Dept. of Education), but this scraper has more fields (139 vs ~30), advanced filters, and sorting that College Navigator doesn't offer.

Q: Can I get all 6,000+ schools at once? A: Max is 2,000 per run. For full database, run multiple times with different state filters.

Q: Why are some fields null? A: Not all schools report all data. Small schools or specialized institutions may lack certain metrics.

Q: Is the data up to date? A: The College Scorecard is updated annually by the U.S. Department of Education. The data reflects the most recent available year.

Q: Can I use this for commercial purposes? A: The data is public domain (U.S. government). You're responsible for compliance with any applicable terms.

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📞 Support

For issues or feature requests, contact through Apify.

📄 Legal

Data sourced from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, which is public domain data under 17 U.S.C. §105.