CollegeRanker · Research
Research With a Purpose.
Original analysis of the things that actually decide a student's future — earnings, social mobility, debt, completion — sourced to federal data and Opportunity Insights, never invented. A share of every dollar we make funds the same thing we measure: access to education.
30M+
Student records behind the data
6,000+
Institutions analyzed
100%
Federal & research-sourced
10–25%
Of revenue → education access
Primary Research
What our analysis of 5,745 colleges found
Original findings computed across our full dataset — sourced, reproducible, and free to cite with attribution to CollegeRanker.
Research Note
Low-income students at colleges in the top quartile of economic connectedness are 267% more likely to reach the top income quintile than peers at the least-connected schools.
Our Analysis Found
The most expensive quartile of colleges costs 373% more than the most affordable — but their graduates earn just 34% more.
Research Note
Colleges in the top quartile for graduation rate produce graduates who earn 11% more than the bottom quartile.
CollegeRanker Primary Research
The least selective quartile of colleges enrolls 26% more students from the bottom income quintile than the most selective.
Our Analysis Found
Private nonprofit colleges cost 110% more in net price than publics, while their graduates earn 21% more.
Featured study · In partnership with Young Focus
Education and the Climb Out of Poverty: What the Mobility Data Proves
The numbers behind a simple idea — that education is the most reliable way out of poverty — and the institutions, here and abroad, that actually deliver it.
Read the study →At the colleges that combine real access with real results, nearly half of students who start in the bottom income quintile reach the top — proof that the climb is possible when an institution is built to make it.
The measure and the mission
We rank the institutions that turn access into outcomes. Then we put 10–25% of our net revenue toward building that access from the ground up — funding education for children in Manila through our impact partner, Young Focus.
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