College Scorecard

Search colleges and universities in the College Scorecard database. Returns matching schools with basic info: name, location, size, tuition, admission rate, median earnings, and completion rate. Args: name: Full or partial school name to search (e.g. 'Harvard', 'community college'). state: Two-letter US state abbreviation (e.g. 'CA', 'NY') to filter by state. zip_code: Five-digit ZIP code for location-based search. Use with distance parameter. distance: Search radius in miles from zip_code. Only used when zip_code is provided. degree_type: Filter by predominant degree type: '1' (certificate), '2' (associate), '3' (bachelor), '4' (graduate). Omit for all types. limit: Maximum number of schools to return (default 25, max 100).

Get detailed data for a specific college or university. Returns comprehensive information including costs, admissions, demographics, earnings outcomes, financial aid, debt levels, and completion rates. Use school IDs from search_schools results. Args: school_id: The College Scorecard school ID (integer). Find IDs via search_schools.

Compare multiple colleges or universities side by side. Returns key metrics for each school including tuition, admission rate, median earnings, debt, and completion rate for easy comparison. Args: school_ids: Comma-separated list of College Scorecard school IDs (e.g. '166027,166683,243780'). Use search_schools to find IDs.

Get earnings and debt data by field of study from the College Scorecard. Returns median earnings and median debt for graduates of specific academic programs. Can be filtered by school, by field name, or both. Args: school_id: College Scorecard school ID to see field-level data for one school. field: Field of study name or keyword to search across schools (e.g. 'Computer Science', 'Nursing', 'Business').