How We Score Colleges
The UCD Score turns official federal data into a single number you can trust. This page shows exactly how it is built, what it measures, and what it cannot tell you.
Last updated June 2026
What We Stand For
Choosing a college is one of the most expensive decisions a family makes. The numbers behind it should be straight. These four commitments shape everything on this site.
Federal Data Only
Every statistic comes from public U.S. government datasets. Nothing is invented or estimated.
Scores Are Not for Sale
No college can buy a higher UCD Score, change its data, or move up a ranking earned on the merits. The numbers are reported exactly as the government publishes them.
Fair Peer Comparison
Colleges are ranked against genuine peers, not forced onto one national list that ignores their differences.
Open Methodology
This page exists so anyone can see how a score is produced. Nothing about the formula is hidden.
What the UCD Score Is
The UCD Score is a number from 0 to 100 that ranks a college against the colleges most like it. It is a percentile, not a fixed grade. A score of 80 means a college performs better than roughly four out of five of its peers on the measures that matter most: whether students finish, what they earn, and what it costs to get there.
Because the score is relative to a peer group, it is most useful for comparing similar colleges. Read it alongside the raw numbers on each college profile rather than as a standalone verdict.
The UCD Score is our own measure. We created it, and we calculate it from public federal data using the formula on this page. It is not an official government rating, and no government agency produces or endorses it.
Peer Groups
It would not be fair to rank a two-year community college against a research university. They serve different students with different goals. So every college is placed in one of three peer groups and scored only against the others in its group.
| Peer group | Who is in it |
|---|---|
| A. Four-year selective | Four-year colleges that report an acceptance rate below 100%. |
| B. Four-year open or online | Four-year colleges that admit nearly all applicants or do not report an acceptance rate. |
| C. Two-year | Community and technical colleges offering two-year programs. |
The Four Sub-Scores
Each college is measured on up to four things. Every sub-score is itself a percentile within the peer group, on a 0 to 100 scale.
Outcomes
Do students finish, and do they stay? Combines the six-year graduation rate with the first-year retention rate.
Value
What do graduates earn relative to what the college costs? Compares median earnings ten years after entry against average net price.
Affordability
Can lower-income students afford to attend? Combines net price (lower is better) with the share of students receiving Pell Grants.
Selectivity
How competitive is admission? Combines the acceptance rate with typical SAT and ACT scores. Applied to four-year selective colleges only.
How the Score Is Calculated
The four sub-scores are combined into one overall score using weights set for each peer group. Selectivity applies only to four-year selective colleges, so the other groups spread that weight across the remaining measures.
| Peer group | Outcomes | Value | Affordability | Selectivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Four-year selective | 35% | 30% | 20% | 15% |
| B. Four-year open or online | 45% | 35% | 20% | 0% |
| C. Two-year | 45% | 30% | 25% | 0% |
Keeping the Scale Honest
A raw percentile would mark half of all colleges as "below 50," which misrepresents how the underlying data really performs. To keep the scale readable, the result is adjusted so a typical college lands near 65, strong performers reach the 80s and 90s, and the weakest still score around 30 rather than 0.
Small Colleges
Colleges with fewer than 500 students are capped at a score of 80. With very few students, a single graduating class can swing the percentile math sharply, so the cap prevents tiny institutions from topping a list on thin data.
Missing Data
When a college has not reported one of the inputs, that measure is set aside and the remaining weights are rescaled. A college is never scored as zero for data it simply never filed.
Which Colleges Receive a Score
Every college that reports enough data to its federal sources receives a UCD Score. A small number of institutions report almost no usable data. Rather than guess at a score for them, we show their profile without one. A missing score means missing data, not a judgement about the college.
Score Labels
Every UCD Score also carries a plain-language label, so the number is easy to read at a glance. Each label covers a band of the 0 to 100 scale and, like the score itself, reflects how a college compares with its peers.
| UCD Score | Label |
|---|---|
| 85 to 100 | Excellent |
| 70 to 84 | Strong |
| 55 to 69 | Good |
| 40 to 54 | Fair |
| Below 40 | Average |
Admissions Difficulty Labels
Separate from the UCD Score, each college carries a label describing how hard it is to get in, based on its acceptance rate. Colleges that admit nearly everyone, including most community colleges, are shown as Open admission.
| Acceptance rate | Label |
|---|---|
| Under 10% | Highly Selective |
| 10% to 25% | Very Selective |
| 25% to 50% | Selective |
| 50% to 75% | Moderate |
| 75% to 90% | Easy |
| 90% or more | Open |
What the Score Cannot Tell You
A single number is a useful starting point, not the whole picture. Here is what the UCD Score deliberately does not capture.
- It does not measure campus culture, social life, or whether a college will feel right for you.
- It does not rate individual programs. A college that is strong overall may be average in your specific major, and the reverse is also true.
- Federal data runs roughly one to two years behind. A college that has recently changed will not show that change yet.
- Earnings figures cover students who received federal financial aid, which is most but not all of a graduating class.
- A high score is a strong signal, not a promise. Use it to build a shortlist, then read the full profile and visit if you can.
About Our Editorial Content
The underlying figures on this site, such as earnings, net price, and graduation rates, come directly from the federal datasets behind them. Composite measures like the UCD Score are calculated by us from that same data, using the formula on this page.
The written summaries beside those numbers, such as the paragraphs describing a college or a major, are written by us or composed directly from the underlying federal data.
Numbers are never generated or estimated by AI. Reported figures are shown exactly as the federal source publishes them, and calculated figures follow the published formula. The wording explains the data; it never replaces it.
How Often We Update
Federal education and labor datasets are refreshed on a regular cycle, generally once a year, though the exact timing varies by source. After each release we rebuild the site from the new files, so every page, score, and label moves to the latest published figures together. Until the next release, the site reflects the most recent data available.
Methodology Questions
What is a good UCD Score?
Can a college pay for a better UCD Score?
Why do two colleges with similar statistics have different scores?
Why is the score curved instead of shown as a raw percentile?
How often is the data updated?
Still have a question about how we score colleges? Contact us and we will walk you through it.