About UniversityFindr
UniversityFindr exists to answer one question honestly: what will an online degree actually cost you, and what will you get back? Most college-search sites rank schools by who pays them the most. We rank schools by numbers anyone can verify — tuition per credit, Pell Grant coverage, accreditation status, and salary outcomes.
Every school we cover is checked against the U.S. Department of Education's DAPIP accreditation database before publication. Every dollar figure traces to a federal dataset — IPEDS, the College Scorecard — or to the school's own published tuition schedule. When we can't verify a number, we don't print it.
What we do
- Publish researched comparisons of accredited online colleges, degrees, and financial aid options, updated as tuition and aid figures change.
- Maintain the Colleges That Pay You Index — original research on schools where financial aid can exceed the cost of attendance.
- Match readers with accredited programs through our free quiz. When a reader asks to be contacted, partner schools may compensate us — compensation never changes a ranking. See our editorial policy.
Our team
Research and writing is led by Samantha Frank, an education writer and researcher specializing in online higher education, college affordability, and federal financial aid. Read her full bio and methodology on her author page.
Our data sources
- IPEDS — the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (NCES)
- U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard
- DAPIP — the Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment and wage data
- Published tuition and aid schedules from each school