Know what the college data can tell you

Sources, coverage and limits behind Admit Coach's college search and planning tools.

Where the numbers come from

Admit Coach is operated by GPTKIDS LLC. Its college database includes historical institutional records from federal sources. We combine these records to help families research options; we are not a college admissions office or the publisher of the original datasets.

Source	Useful for	Check before deciding
NCES IPEDS	Institution identity, enrollment, admissions ranges, completions, costs and graduation statistics	Reporting periods and populations differ. An institution-wide rate does not describe every major or applicant.
US Department of Education College Scorecard	Historical net prices, financial-aid, debt and outcome measures	Definitions, cohort restrictions, reporting lag and suppressed values matter. An average is not an individual offer.
Official college websites and separately imported supplemental records	Website links, program or policy context when available	Use the college's admissions and financial-aid pages to confirm current deadlines, testing rules, fees and program requirements.

How to read a comparison

Resolve the school by its name and IPEDS institution ID. Campuses with similar names may have different records.
Check the field's reporting year when it is supplied. If it is absent, treat freshness as unverified. The date a guide was edited is not the reporting year of every number on it.
Keep missing values as unknown. A missing fee, acceptance rate or cost is not a zero.
Verify the current decision-critical details with the institution.

Admission lists are a starting point

The public calculator uses heuristic rules to build an exploratory list. It is not a statistically validated prediction of an individual's admission probability. Holistic review, program selectivity, GPA scales and incomplete records limit what scores alone can tell you. Read the shortlist methodology.

Affordability needs your circumstances

Historical net price is the average cost after grants and scholarships for a defined cohort. Residency, household circumstances, eligibility and the year can change your actual cost. Four-year comparisons are simple fixed-cost scenarios, not forecasts. Use the official college net-price calculator and compare actual aid offers. Start with our affordability checklist.

Use the data in your own workflow

Browse college profiles or use the public API. AI assistants can connect to the read-only college-data MCP server at https://admit-coach.com/api/mcp/. Returned source links help users inspect the underlying school page.

Corrections and accountability

If something looks wrong, send the school name, institution ID, field and an official source link to support@gptkid.org. Please do not include student records in a data-correction email. Read our privacy policy and terms.

Page revised September 6, 2026. This page documents limitations; it does not certify every record as current.

Permanent link to these data-source notes