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College Scorecard is the U.S. Department of Education's free tool for comparing colleges on costs, graduation rates, student debt, and post-college earnings. Use it when you're building a college list, checking whether a school's price or outcomes match its reputation, or comparing majors across schools. Everything below runs on the site's own search, filter, compare, and profile features — no account is mentioned in the site materials, and no pricing signals appear, so treat access as open but don't assume any paid tier exists.

Start with a college search

The homepage centers on "Search and compare colleges." You have two entry points:

• Search Colleges — type a college name, or use the quick-search options Near Me or All Colleges.
• Search Fields of Study — requires a degree type selection, then lets you type a major or program.

If you already have a school in mind, the name search is fastest. If you're still deciding where to apply, start with Near Me to see what's within commuting distance, or All Colleges to browse the full set.

Narrow results with filters

Once you're in the search, the site offers three filters:

Apply filters before comparing. A shortlist of 10 schools that all fit your cost and location constraints is far more useful than 10 schools you'd never attend.

Compare up to 10 colleges side by side

The Compare Colleges feature lets you put up to 10 colleges next to each other. This is the core of the tool — it's built for "compare the information that matters most to you" rather than reading profiles one at a time.

A practical comparison set uses the same dimensions across every school:

• Annual cost
• Student debt
• Graduation rates
• Post-college earnings
• Admissions test scores and acceptance rates
• Student body diversity

Keep the comparison honest by checking the same field for each school. If one college's earnings figure covers a different cohort or major mix than another's, the numbers aren't directly comparable — the site presents Department of Education data, so the underlying definitions are consistent, but your reading of them should be too.

Look up a field of study, not just a school

The Search Fields of Study tool covers majors and programs offered at colleges and universities, and it reports salaries and debt of graduates for those fields. This matters because a school's overall earnings number can hide wide variation between majors.

Use it when:

• You've picked a major and want to see which schools produce the best outcomes in it.
• You're comparing two majors at the same school to see how debt and salary differ.
• You want a reality check on a program before committing.

Remember that degree type is a required input here — you can't search fields of study without selecting one.

Read a college profile for the full picture

Each college has a profile page with U.S. Department of Education data on:

• Costs
• Student debt
• Graduation rates
• Admissions test scores and acceptance rates
• Student body diversity
• Post-college earnings

Use profiles after you've narrowed your list. They give the context that a side-by-side table can't — for example, an acceptance rate that tells you whether a school is a realistic target, or a diversity breakdown that matters to you personally.

Check alternate pathways and financial aid

College Scorecard also points to routes outside a traditional degree:

• apprenticeship.gov — search apprenticeship jobs and programs
• MyNextMove.org — career exploration and job analysis
• TrainingProviderResults.gov — compare training programs by completion rates, employment rates, and more
• CareerOneStop.org — career exploration, training, and jobs
• Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) — detailed profiles of over 300 occupations

For funding, the site links to StudentAid.gov for financial aid types and to the FAFSA® application, which you must complete to receive federal aid. A Federal Student Aid aid-estimator is available to see how much aid may be available to you. Veterans can use the GI Bill® comparison tool to compare education programs and benefits by school.

A workable sequence

1. Search by name, Near Me, or All Colleges.
2. Filter by location, annual cost, and degree type.
3. Add up to 10 schools to the comparison view.
4. Run a Fields of Study search for your intended major to check salaries and debt.
5. Open individual profiles for admissions and diversity details.
6. If a four-year degree isn't the right fit, check the apprenticeship and training links.
7. Start the FAFSA and use the aid estimator to see what you'd actually pay.

The main pitfall is comparing schools on different criteria — pick your dimensions first, then apply them uniformly across the comparison set.

A research university is a university whose core mission includes producing new knowledge through research and training doctoral students, not just teaching undergraduates. You can tell whether a school fits that description by checking its Carnegie classification, its doctoral program offerings, and how prominently research funding and faculty scholarship appear on its own website. This matters most if you want undergraduate research access, broad graduate-level course options, or a faculty culture built around discovery — and matters less if your priority is small classes and teaching-first faculty.

The defining features

Three things separate a research university from a college or a regional teaching institution:

• Doctoral production. Research universities award PhDs and other research doctorates. A school that only grants bachelor's and master's degrees is generally not classified as one.
• Research output and funding. Faculty are expected to publish, secure grants, and run labs or field programs. External research dollars are a structural part of the budget.
• A research mission in the institution's own language. Look for phrases like "discovery," "research," and "scholarship" in the mission statement, not just in marketing pages.

Size alone doesn't make a school a research university, and a large enrollment doesn't guarantee research intensity. The classification systems and funding records are the reliable signals.

The Carnegie classification, and what R1/R2 mean

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is the standard reference for research activity in the U.S. The top research categories are commonly called R1 (very high research activity) and R2 (high research activity). These labels are assigned based on measures such as research spending and the number of research doctorates awarded.

Practical points:

• R1/R2 tells you about institutional research intensity, not about your specific department. A strong R1 school can still have a small, teaching-focused program in your field.
• The classification is updated periodically, so check the current version rather than an old ranking article.
• "Research university" and "R1" are not identical terms — R1 is one way to verify the broader category.

How research universities overlap with other categories

These labels answer different questions and often stack on the same school:

Kansas State University is a useful example of the overlap. Its own site describes it as "the first operational land-grant university in the United States" and frames its mission around "inspired learning, creativity, discovery and engagement." That combination — land-grant access mission plus a discovery mission — is common among state research universities.

What it means for undergraduates

The research label changes your day-to-day experience in specific ways:

• Research access. You're more likely to find labs, field sites, and faculty who take undergraduates. You usually have to ask, though — access is not automatic.
• Class size and instructor type. Introductory courses are often large and taught by graduate students or adjuncts; upper-level and lab courses get smaller.
• Breadth. More departments, more majors, and more graduate-level courses you may be able to take as an undergraduate.
• Trade-off. Research prestige does not equal teaching quality. Some research universities are known for strong teaching; others are not. Check the specific department, not the label.

How to verify a school's research standing

1. Check the Carnegie classification. Look up the institution in the current Carnegie listing and note its research category.
2. Read the mission and "about" page. Does the school describe research and discovery as central, or as an add-on?
3. Look at the research office page. Find the office of research or sponsored programs and look for annual research expenditure figures and major funding sources.
4. Count doctoral programs in your field. Go to the department page and confirm whether it offers a PhD and lists active labs or research groups.
5. Check faculty pages. Look for current publications, grants, and whether undergraduates are listed as co-authors or research assistants.
6. Ask directly. Contact the department and ask how undergraduates get into research, and how many actually do.

Choosing between research-heavy and teaching-focused schools

Use the same dimensions to compare, then decide based on your goal:

• If you want to pursue a PhD or a research career: prioritize departments with active labs, doctoral programs, and undergraduate research pipelines.
• If you want small classes and close faculty contact: a teaching-focused college may serve you better, even without the research label.
• If cost and aid matter most: compare net price and aid packages across both types — research intensity does not predict affordability in either direction.
• If you're undecided on a major: a research university's breadth gives you more room to switch, at the cost of larger introductory classes.

The label is a starting filter, not a verdict. Verify the department you'd actually join.