canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/ed.gov/ed

# Ed Gov College Scorecard API

The College Scorecard API from the U.S. Department of Education provides data on higher-education institutions, including costs, graduation rates, student demographics, earnings outcomes, and admissions statistics. Agents search and list schools filtered by name, state, city, zip-code radius, ownership, degree type, enrollment size, admission rate, or tuition range, and choose exactly which fields to return. Results come back as JSON or as a downloadable CSV. Authentication uses an api.data.gov API key passed as a query parameter.

## For AI agents

Search U.S. higher-education institutions by name, location, cost, and admissions filters, and return cost, graduation, demographic, and earnings data as JSON or CSV. Covers 2 operations over College Scorecard data.

## Scope

Does not handle admissions applications, enrollment, or financial-aid processing. Use for looking up U.S. higher-education institution data only.

## Capabilities

- Search U.S. higher-education institutions by name, state, city, or zip-code radius
- Filter schools by ownership, predominant degree type, enrollment size, admission rate, or tuition range
- Select exactly which fields to return, such as cost, graduation, demographic, or earnings data
- Export matching school records as CSV instead of JSON

## Use cases

### AI Agent College Search

Let an AI agent answer prospective-student questions from authoritative federal data: it searches schools by state and admission rate and returns each school's name, tuition, and graduation rate. Through Jentic the agent discovers the schools search operation by intent and calls it with the right filters and fields list, so a college-shortlist query runs without a developer learning the dotted field syntax by hand.

Example prompt: Search for public four-year schools in a state with an admission rate under 0.5, returning each school's name, in-state tuition, and graduation rate

### Affordability and Outcomes Analysis

Advisors and researchers compare what colleges cost against what graduates earn. The schools search operation returns cost fields such as in-state tuition alongside outcome fields such as median earnings, filtered by tuition range so only affordable options come back. An agent assembles the comparison without scraping institution websites.

Example prompt: Retrieve in-state tuition and median earnings fields for a list of schools filtered by tuition range

### Geographic College Discovery

Students often start from where they live rather than a school name. The API filters schools by zip code and a distance in miles, so a search returns institutions within a commuting radius. An agent uses this to build a local-options list and then layer on ownership or degree-type filters.

Example prompt: Find all schools within 25 miles of a zip code and return their names and ownership type

## Key resources

- **Schools** — Search and list U.S. higher-education institutions with their cost, outcome, and demographic data, returned as JSON or CSV

## AI readiness

This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.

- **Score:** 48 / 100
- **Maturity:** Foundational
- **Dimensions:**
  - Foundational Compliance: 100 / 100
  - Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility: 59 / 100
  - AI-Readiness & Agent Experience: 52 / 100
  - Agent Usability: 94 / 100
  - Security: 15 / 100
  - AI Discoverability: 69 / 100
- **View full report:** https://jentic.com/apis/ed.gov/ed/scorecard
- **How the score is calculated:** https://docs.jentic.com/reference/api-readiness-framework/overview/
- **More about the dimensions:** https://docs.jentic.com/reference/api-readiness-framework/specification/#dimensional-model-overview

### Score it yourself

Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.

- **Score your own API:** https://jentic.com/scorecard.md
- **Scoring CLI agent skill:** https://github.com/jentic/jentic-api-scorecard/blob/main/skills/jentic-api-scorecard/SKILL.md

```sh
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>
```

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the College Scorecard API by hand means registering for an api.data.gov key, passing it as a query parameter, and learning its dotted field and range-filter syntax. Through Jentic you install once, import it from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** The College Scorecard API has two read-only operations, both GET requests that carry their filters in the query string rather than the URL path. A rule bounds your agent to those read operations, so it can search and read institution data but has no write or destructive operations to grant.
- **Credential handling:** Your api.data.gov key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'search U.S. colleges' or 'get college graduation rates', and Jentic returns the matching College Scorecard operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Data.gov API** — Broader U.S. open-data catalog that also hosts education datasets
- **U.S. Census Bureau API** — Demographic and economic statistics to contextualize institution data
- **USA.gov API** — Directory of U.S. government services and agency information

## FAQ

### What authentication does the College Scorecard API use?

The College Scorecard API authenticates with an api.data.gov API key passed as the api_key query parameter per its OpenAPI spec. You register for a key at api.data.gov, and a DEMO_KEY is available for testing. Through Jentic the key is stored encrypted by your own Jentic One instance and injected at call time, so it never enters the agent's context.

### Can I filter colleges by cost or admission rate with the College Scorecard API?

Yes. The schools search operation accepts range filters such as in-state tuition, student enrollment size, and overall admission rate, along with filters for state, city, ownership, and predominant degree type. You pass a fields parameter to control exactly which data points come back.

### What are the rate limits for the College Scorecard API?

Rate limits are enforced by api.data.gov rather than stated in the OpenAPI spec; see https://api.data.gov for the current hourly limit and how to request a higher one. The per_page parameter caps results at 100 per request, so large result sets are paged.

### Is there a College Scorecard MCP server?

You don't need an MCP server to give your agent the College Scorecard API. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: import it, store your api.data.gov key once, and your agent calls the schools search operation. Operations are discovered on demand, so no extra server's tool definitions sit in your agent's context.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the College Scorecard API?

Yes, though there is little to restrict: the API exposes only two read-only search operations and no write operations. A rule can still bound your agent to just these read operations, and because the credential is injected at call time, the agent never sees the api.data.gov key. Every call it makes is logged.

### How do I search for colleges with the College Scorecard API through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'search U.S. colleges by state and cost' to find the schools search operation, pass your filters and a fields list, and read the matching institutions back as JSON. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.