Editorial Standards

Primary Sources Only

Every earnings figure on this site traces back to the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard API or IPEDS. Every salary benchmark traces back to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. Named research organizations - Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce, FREOPP, the College Board - are linked directly. If we can't link to the original source, we don't publish the claim.

No Estimates Presented as Facts

When we calculate a figure - a payback period, a lifetime earnings premium, a debt-to-income ratio - we show the formula. When data is unavailable for a school and we've used an imputed median, the school profile says so explicitly. We distinguish between government-reported figures and our own calculated metrics.

Data Vintage Disclosed Everywhere

College Scorecard earnings data reflects students who enrolled roughly 10 years before the measurement date - a lag baked into the government's methodology. We note the data vintage (currently 2023-24 academic year) on every page that displays it. Tuition and cost data reflects the most recent available year, also noted.

Annual Data Refresh

The U.S. Department of Education releases updated College Scorecard data annually, typically in the fall. CampusROI updates all school scores, earnings figures, and cost data when new data is released. The release date and data vintage are noted in the site footer and on the data sources page.

Independence

CampusROI is independently operated. We have no affiliation with any college, university, student loan lender, or education organization. Our ROI scores are calculated algorithmically from government data - no school can pay to improve its score, and we have no financial relationship with any institution we cover. If we add affiliate relationships in the future (e.g. student loan refinancing links), we will disclose them clearly.

Corrections Policy

If you find an error - a wrong figure, a broken calculation, outdated data that hasn't been flagged as such - email us at hello@campusroi.com with the specific claim and what you believe is correct. We review all correction requests and update the content if the error is confirmed. Material corrections are noted in the post.

Who Produces This Content

Analysis and writing on CampusROI is produced by Ryan Mercer, founder, and reviewed by the CampusROI editorial team before publication. Ryan built the scoring algorithm, processed the underlying government data, and writes the site's analysis. He has no academic or institutional affiliation.

We use publicly available data - the same data you could download yourself from collegescorecard.ed.gov and IPEDS. Our contribution is cleaning, scoring, and presenting it in a way that's usable.