Searching For A College

IPEDS College Opportunities On-Line is your direct link to nearly 7,000 colleges and universities in the United States. If you are thinking about a large university, a small liberal arts college, a specialized college, a community college, a career or technical college or a trade school, you can find them all here.

College Opportunities On-Line is brought to you by the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education. NCES was authorized by Congress in 1998 to help college students, future students, and their parents understand the differences between colleges and how much it costs to attend college.

College Opportunities On-Line helps you find out about a specific college or set of colleges, if you have some in mind. You can name the colleges and obtain information about them.

If you are not sure what colleges might be of interest, IPEDS COOL has the tools to help you search for a college. You can search for a college based on its location, program, or degree offerings either alone or in combination. The more criteria you specify, the smaller the number of colleges that will fit your criteria. Once you've found some colleges of interest, you can obtain important and understandable information on all of them. Once you have determined the colleges that meet your interests, we urge you to obtain more information about them by visiting their web sites, writing for more information, or visiting the schools of your choice.

Warning: An institution's inclusion in IPEDS COOL does NOT imply approval of the institution or its programs by the U.S. Department of Education. Title IV eligible schools (those that participate in awarding Pell Grants and other federal financial aid) have recognized accreditation. This is important for acceptance of transfer credit or degree recognition.