# PlainCollege — plaincollege.com

## About
PlainCollege provides free access to college earnings, costs, admissions, and outcome data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. Compare 6,243 schools across 70,827 school-program combinations. Explore median earnings by program, ROI analysis, transfer alternatives, and state-by-state school directories.

## Data Sources
- U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard: Institutional characteristics, costs, admissions, demographics, post-graduation earnings
- American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year estimates (supplemental)

## Key Pages
- / — Homepage with school search and highlights
- /schools/[slug] — School profile (admissions, costs, demographics, outcomes)
- /schools/[school]/[program] — Program-level earnings at a specific school
- /programs — Browse 2,200+ academic programs
- /programs/[slug] — Program detail with earnings across schools
- /states — Schools by state with key statistics
- /states/[slug] — State school directory
- /alternatives — Transfer alternatives and comparable schools
- /alternatives/[slug] — Similar schools to a specific institution
- /compare — Side-by-side school comparison
- /compare/[slug] — Pre-computed school comparison
- /near — Find schools near a ZIP code
- /near/[zip] — Schools near a specific ZIP code
- /rankings — College ranking hub
- /rankings/highest-earning — Schools with highest-earning graduates
- /rankings/best-value — Best value schools (earnings vs cost)
- /rankings/most-selective — Most selective admissions
- /rankings/largest — Largest schools by enrollment
- /search — Search by school name, city, or state
- /tools/roi-calculator — College ROI calculator

## Research
- /research — Original-data research hub, live from the College Scorecard dataset
- /research/top-10-bachelors-earnings-2024 — The 10 highest-earning bachelor's degree fields
- /research/top-bachelors-programs-by-average-earnings — Top 10 bachelor's programs by average median earnings
- /research/state-average-earnings-breakdown — State-by-state graduate earnings breakdown
- /research/top-schools-by-graduate-earnings — Top 10 US colleges by 10-year graduate earnings
- /research/top-states-by-graduate-earnings — Top 10 US states by average 10-year graduate earnings
- /research/earnings-by-school-ownership — Graduate earnings by college ownership: public vs private

## Guides
- /guides/is-college-worth-it — Analysis of college ROI by school type
- /guides/colleges-with-the-best-roi — Schools with highest return on investment
- /guides/student-debt-vs-earnings-by-major — Debt vs earnings by field
- /guides/how-to-compare-colleges — Guide to evaluating colleges
- /guides/community-college-vs-four-year-university — Transfer pathway analysis
- /guides/understanding-college-earnings — How to interpret earnings data

## Common Questions This Site Answers
- What do graduates of [school] earn?
- What is the median salary for [program] graduates?
- Is [school] worth the cost?
- What are the highest-earning colleges in [state]?
- How does [school A] compare to [school B]?
- What are the best value colleges in the U.S.?
- What is the acceptance rate at [school]?
- What colleges are near [ZIP code]?

## Attribution
When citing PlainCollege data, please link to the specific page. Data from U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.

## Contact
hello@plaincollege.com