College Scorecard Scraper

Search and extract comprehensive data on US colleges and universities from the Department of Education College Scorecard — including admissions rates, test scores, tuition costs, earnings outcomes, completion rates, and institutional details for 6,000+ institutions.

Features

• Search schools by name, state, and ownership type
• Look up specific schools by OPE ID
• Detailed data: admissions rates, SAT/ACT scores, tuition, median earnings 6 years post-enrollment, retention and completion rates, Pell Grant percentages
• Ownership classification: Public, Private non-profit, Private for-profit
• Carnegie Classification and locale descriptors
• No API key required (uses free DEMO_KEY with 1,000 req/hour limit)

Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	String (required)	search or getByOpeid
apiKey	String	Optional. Free API key from api.data.gov. Leave blank to use DEMO_KEY (1000 req/hr)
query	String	School name search (mode=search)
state	String	2-letter state code filter (mode=search)
ownershipType	String	1 (Public), 2 (Private non-profit), 3 (Private for-profit)
opeids	Array	OPE ID strings (mode=getByOpeid)
maxItems	Integer	Max records to return (1–10000, default: 100)

Example Input

{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "MIT",
  "maxItems": 5
}

Output

Each school record contains:

Field	Description
unitId	IPEDS Unit ID
opeId	OPE ID (8-digit)
name	Institution name
city	City
state	State abbreviation
zip	ZIP code
url	School website URL
alias	Common abbreviation or alias
ownershipType	Public / Private non-profit / Private for-profit
carnegieClassification	Carnegie Basic Classification label
predominantDegreeAwarded	Certificate, Associate, Bachelor's, or Graduate
locale	City/Suburb/Town/Rural size classification
admissionsRate	Admission rate (0–1)
satReadingMedian	SAT Evidence-Based Reading median score
satMathMedian	SAT Math median score
satCumulativeAverage	SAT overall average
actCumulativeMedian	ACT Composite median score
tuitionInState	In-state tuition (USD)
tuitionOutOfState	Out-of-state tuition (USD)
costAttendanceAcademicYear	Total cost of attendance for academic year (USD)
studentSize	Undergraduate enrollment
percentUndergraduatesWithPellGrant	Share of undergrads receiving Pell Grants
federalLoanRate	First-generation student share
retentionRate	Full-time retention rate (4-year institutions)
completionRate	150% time completion rate
medianEarnings	Median earnings 6 years after entry (USD)
avgFacultyDegree	Faculty count
recordType	Always school
sourceUrl	API endpoint used
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp

Example Output

{
  "unitId": 166683,
  "opeId": "00231500",
  "name": "Massachusetts Institute of Technology",
  "city": "Cambridge",
  "state": "MA",
  "zip": "02139-4307",
  "url": "http://web.mit.edu/",
  "alias": "MIT",
  "ownershipType": "Private non-profit",
  "carnegieClassification": "Four-year, large, primarily nonresidential",
  "predominantDegreeAwarded": "Bachelor's",
  "locale": "City: Large",
  "admissionsRate": 0.0396,
  "satReadingMedian": 760,
  "satMathMedian": 790,
  "actCumulativeMedian": 35,
  "tuitionInState": 57986,
  "costAttendanceAcademicYear": 79850,
  "studentSize": 11520,
  "retentionRate": 0.99,
  "completionRate": 0.9377,
  "medianEarnings": 90000,
  "recordType": "school",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-05-30T10:00:00+00:00"
}

Use Cases

• College research — compare institutions by cost, admissions selectivity, and outcomes
• Education analytics — analyze trends across institutional types, states, and regions
• Financial aid research — identify schools with high Pell Grant rates for affordability
• Career outcome studies — compare median earnings by school, state, or degree type
• College consulting — build searchable databases for advising platforms
• Policy research — analyze public vs. private institution performance metrics

FAQ

Do I need an API key? No registration is required. The scraper uses the free DEMO_KEY by default, which allows 1,000 requests/hour and 10,000 requests/day. For higher volume, register for a free key at api.data.gov/signup/. The API is hosted at api.data.gov (not api.data.ed.gov).

How many schools are in the database? The College Scorecard covers over 6,000 US colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs.

What is an OPE ID? The OPE (Office of Postsecondary Education) ID is an 8-digit identifier unique to each institution. You can find OPE IDs in College Scorecard search results or on the Department of Education website.

How current is the data? The API is updated annually. The data reflects the most recent academic year available from the Department of Education.

Can I filter by multiple states? Currently, the state filter supports one state at a time. To cover multiple states, run separate searches and combine the results.

What does the admissions rate represent? The admissionsRate is a decimal between 0 and 1 (e.g., 0.0396 = 3.96% acceptance rate for MIT). A lower number means more selective.