# College ROI Scraper — US College Scorecard Cost & Earnings (`compute-edge/college-scorecard-roi-scraper`) Actor Extract every US college from the official Dept. of Education College Scorecard: tuition, net price, median debt, 10-year graduate earnings, admission & completion rates, plus a computed earnings-to-debt ROI ratio. Filter by state. JSON, CSV, Excel, Markdown. - **URL**: https://apify.com/compute-edge/college-scorecard-roi-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Compute Edge](https://apify.com/compute-edge) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## College ROI Scraper — US College Scorecard Earnings, Cost & Debt Data Extract a complete, structured dataset of **every college and university in the United States** from the official **[U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard](https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/)**. This Actor turns the government's API into clean **JSON, CSV, or Excel** — including the numbers students and analysts actually care about: **tuition, net price, median student debt, median graduate earnings, admission rates, completion rates,** and a **computed earnings-to-debt ROI ratio**. The College Scorecard is maintained by the federal government and updated annually, so the data is **authoritative and fresh** — far more reliable than scraping individual university websites. ### What you can extract | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `name` | Institution name | | `city` / `state` / `zip` | Location | | `website` | School homepage | | `ownership` | Public / Private nonprofit / Private for-profit | | `studentSize` | Undergraduate enrollment | | `admissionRate` | Overall admission rate | | `tuitionInState` / `tuitionOutOfState` | Published tuition | | `avgNetPrice` | Average net price after aid | | `medianDebt` | Median debt of completers | | `medianEarnings10yr` | Median earnings 10 years after entry | | `completionRate4yr` | 4-year completion rate | | `earningsToDebtRatio` | **Computed ROI** (earnings ÷ debt) | ### Why scrape College Scorecard data? This is a **pricing-and-value intelligence tool**, not just a school list. EdTech companies, student-loan and financial-aid firms, enrollment-marketing agencies, journalists, and researchers pay for clean, comparable college outcome data. The built-in **earnings-to-debt ROI ratio** lets you instantly rank schools by financial value — the single most-requested analysis in higher-ed data. ### How to scrape college data 1. Click **Start**. 2. (Optional) Add your free **api.data.gov key** (sign up at https://api.data.gov/signup/) for large pulls. Leave blank to use the built-in DEMO_KEY for small runs. 3. (Optional) Filter by **State** or **Name**. 4. Set **Max Results** (`0` = all schools). 5. Toggle **Include LLM-Ready Markdown** for AI/RAG pipelines. 6. Run and download as JSON, CSV, or Excel. ### Input example ```json { "apiKey": "", "state": "CA", "maxResults": 500, "includeMarkdown": false } ```` ### Output example ```json { "name": "Example State University", "city": "Sacramento", "state": "CA", "ownership": "Public", "tuitionInState": 10024, "avgNetPrice": 14500, "medianDebt": 18000, "medianEarnings10yr": 52000, "earningsToDebtRatio": 2.89 } ``` ### Pricing Billed **per result** plus Apify compute. A full national pull is only a few dollars. Note: the shared DEMO\_KEY is rate-limited — supply your own free api.data.gov key for unlimited large pulls. ### LLM-ready output Enable **Include LLM-Ready Markdown** to attach a clean, semantic Markdown summary to each school for direct use in Claude, GPT, Gemini, or any RAG/vector pipeline. ### Related Actors Explore our other US government and education data scrapers on the Apify Store. ### FAQ **Do I need an API key?** No — a built-in DEMO\_KEY works for small runs. For large pulls, get a free key at api.data.gov. **How fresh is the data?** It reflects the latest annual College Scorecard release. **What does the ROI ratio mean?** Median 10-year graduate earnings divided by median student debt — higher is better. ### Legal disclaimer This Actor extracts only publicly available, non-personal institutional data published by the U.S. Department of Education. It does not collect personal data of individuals. Use the data in compliance with applicable laws and the api.data.gov terms of service. Provided for legitimate business, research, and analytical purposes. # Actor input Schema ## `apiKey` (type: `string`): Optional free API key from https://api.data.gov/signup/ . Leave empty to use the rate-limited DEMO\_KEY (fine for small runs). ## `state` (type: `string`): Filter by 2-letter US state code (e.g. 'CA'). Leave empty for all states. ## `nameFilter` (type: `string`): Match schools whose name contains this text. Leave empty for all. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of schools to return. Set to 0 for all. (DEMO\_KEY is rate-limited; use your own key for large pulls.) ## `includeMarkdown` (type: `boolean`): Add a clean, RAG-ready Markdown summary field to each record. ## Actor input object example ```json { "apiKey": "", "state": "", "nameFilter": "", "maxResults": 500, "includeMarkdown": false } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `dataset` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("compute-edge/college-scorecard-roi-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("compute-edge/college-scorecard-roi-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{}' | apify call compute-edge/college-scorecard-roi-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=compute-edge/college-scorecard-roi-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "College ROI Scraper — US College Scorecard Cost & Earnings", "description": "Extract every US college from the official Dept. of Education College Scorecard: tuition, net price, median debt, 10-year graduate earnings, admission & completion rates, plus a computed earnings-to-debt ROI ratio. Filter by state. JSON, CSV, Excel, Markdown.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "NT4w90All1RbQEElW" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/compute-edge~college-scorecard-roi-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-compute-edge-college-scorecard-roi-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/compute-edge~college-scorecard-roi-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-compute-edge-college-scorecard-roi-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/compute-edge~college-scorecard-roi-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-compute-edge-college-scorecard-roi-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "apiKey": { "title": "api.data.gov API Key", "type": "string", "description": "Optional free API key from https://api.data.gov/signup/ . Leave empty to use the rate-limited DEMO_KEY (fine for small runs).", "default": "" }, "state": { "title": "State", "type": "string", "description": "Filter by 2-letter US state code (e.g. 'CA'). Leave empty for all states.", "default": "" }, "nameFilter": { "title": "Name Filter", "type": "string", "description": "Match schools whose name contains this text. Leave empty for all.", "default": "" }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 50000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of schools to return. Set to 0 for all. (DEMO_KEY is rate-limited; use your own key for large pulls.)", "default": 500 }, "includeMarkdown": { "title": "Include LLM-Ready Markdown", "type": "boolean", "description": "Add a clean, RAG-ready Markdown summary field to each record.", "default": false } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```