COLLEGEDATA FAQS

CollegeData^® is a free online college advisory service provided by 1st Financial Bank USA^® (1FBUSA) for over 25 years. With CollegeData, you can find colleges that are right for you, calculate your admissions chances, discover who’s getting in where and how you compare, explore scholarships, learn how to manage your money before, during, and after college, hear from students themselves about their transition to and through college, and more. Which CollegeData tool should you try first? Take this quiz.

No. CollegeData is a free college planning service fully sponsored by 1FBUSA, which offers credit cards to college-bound and college students and provides other banking products and services. At no cost to you, CollegeData can help you prepare, apply, and pay for college. Most of CollegeData's resources can be accessed without having to create an account and sign in, including thousands of college profiles, hundreds of blog articles, and financial resources including information about financial literacy, the Student Aid Index (SAI), Net Price - your true college cost, and how to compare financial aid awards. You must have a CollegeData account to use College Chances and Admissions Tracker as well as to add your Admissions Profile, which is where you can save your favorite articles, colleges, and scholarships.

Yes. You can find various articles, videos, and other resources on CollegeData’s financial literacy page and 1FBUSA’s student blog to help you learn how to manage your money and build credit wisely before, during, and after college. There are also many credit education resources on the CollegeData and 1FBUSA sites that provide helpful information about managing your finances responsibly and making informed financial decisions with confidence, including:

Yes. CollegeData offers a free mobile app through the App Store and Google Play which, like the CollegeData website, can help you search and compare over 2,400 college profiles, see what your chances are of getting accepted to various schools with our College Chances Calculator, and prepare, apply, and pay for college. The mobile app, similar to the CollegeData website, also provides access to thousands of scholarship awards worth over $5 billion through our Scholarship Finder and to important college application and testing deadlines.

CollegeData offers a robust College Search tool that allows you to filter and search over 2,400 colleges by name or personal preferences including location, size, cost, acceptance rate, majors, student body, sports, graduation rates, and more. These filters can help you identify schools that align with your preferences and goals and even help you find your dream college.

College Chances is our college admissions calculator that estimates your chances of admissions at any of the 2,400+ colleges profiled on CollegeData. College Chances can help you create your college list and determine your chances of getting into your dream school.

Use our Scholarship Finder to explore thousands of undergraduate scholarships worth over $5 billion from private sources plus thousands of institutional scholarships from college and university sponsors throughout the U.S worth over $78 million. Scholarship Finder can help find the scholarships that might be looking for students with academic qualifications, interests, and personal characteristics like yours.

Use our Admissions Tracker to see who got in where and how you compare against other students. Admissions Tracker can also help you generate a college list that includes reach, target, and safety schools. 

CollegeData Resources features hundreds of in-depth articles offering guidance on developing a college search strategy, test preparation, essay writing, financial aid, and student budgeting. These articles are intended to help you understand how to choose the right colleges for you and prepare, apply, and pay for college. You will also find information about admissions; financial aid (including understanding the FAFSA and student loans); the transition to college; campus life; study abroad; extra-curriculars; careers; and more.

"CollegeData was integral in my College Admissions plan. In line with their name, they really do offer a wealth of information about every school and puts every school into a realistic perspective in terms of admission, financial aid, net price, and personal fit. With a strong application and the CollegeData team at my side, I landed in my dream school and am still living that dream. I recommend CollegeData all the time to my friends in the application process."

Gabby – Xavier University – Class of 2023

I didn’t decide to apply to college until much later than most students, and I didn’t know where to start or where to look for colleges. I used CollegeData's College Search to find colleges that met my criteria, assess my chances of acceptance, and learn more about those schools.  I am so grateful that this information was available to me. I don’t know how I would have finished my college search otherwise.

Nolan, Colorado State University Class of 2027

"CollegeData is a wonderful tool for upcoming seniors (and other high school students) who are on the road towards higher education. Consisting of easy-to-understand informational guides and email newsletters that can make even the most confused applicant be enlightened, CollegeData lives up to its name of being “your online college advisor.” CollegeData also has various useful applications, like admissions tracker, EFC calculator, and scholarship finder to make financial aid and "the money factor" much easier to analyze and compare. The organization provided me with the resources to make the journey a much organized one. Thank you."

Stanley - Vanderbilt University – Class of 2024

CollegeData helped me with college research, estimating my chances of admission, and understanding concepts like “net price.” The College Search tool logically ordered statistics about universities and allowed me to make specific searches. The college profiles compiled important data about colleges that are difficult to find together in one place, and College Chances helped me estimate my admission chances at different schools, which was fun — and reminded me that being accepted to a top university is in fact possible.

Jacob, Princeton University Class of 2027

Want to learn more? Please visit: CollegeData's Video Page.

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