Data & Methodology


Data & Methodology

CollegeWhale’s scholarship and loan data hubs combine proprietary, editor-curated data with verified public datasets to help students and families identify real, relevant, and high-value financial aid opportunities.
This page explains our data sources, methodology, proprietary tools (including CollegeWhale Scholarship FastFind™ and CollegeWhale EduRate Index™), and the terms under which you may reuse our data.

Data Sources

  • CollegeWhale Scholarship Database — Original scholarship and grant listings researched, written, and maintained by CollegeWhale editors. Each record may include award amount, eligibility criteria, demographic or academic fit, and verified deadlines. Listings are tagged and structured to power our discovery tools, including CollegeWhale Scholarship FastFind™.
  • College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education) — For applicable state-based hubs, we incorporate institutional metrics such as average net price, median earnings 10 years after entry, Pell Grant rate, median debt, admission and graduation rates, and SAT/ACT ranges. Official Source.
  • CollegeWhale EduRate Index™ — Proprietary dataset that aggregates and standardizes advertised private student loan and refinance rates, lender terms, and eligibility criteria. Rates are verified from official lender disclosures and updated regularly by CollegeWhale editors. The EduRate Index™ powers our Private Loan Rate and Refinance Comparison tools.

Inclusion Criteria & Key Definitions

  • Scholarship Deadline: Derived from the sponsor’s official information or month-based tags (e.g., January–December). If no fixed deadline is defined, the listing may display “Rolling.”
  • Award Amount: Sourced from official sponsor data or parsed and normalized from listing text. Ranges may be represented by a single comparative figure.
  • Eligibility & Tags: Listings may be tagged by state, demographic group, academic level, or major (e.g., first-generation, LGBTQ+, women, minority, STEM). These power the FastFind™ filters.
  • College Metrics (where shown):
    • Average Net Price: College Scorecard latest.cost.avg_net_price.overall.
    • Earnings After 10 Years: latest.earnings.10_yrs_after_entry.median.
    • Other Metrics: Pell %, median debt, admission rate, graduation rate, and standardized test ranges.
    • Formatting: Currency rounded to the nearest dollar; percentages to whole numbers. Missing or suppressed values shown as “—”.
  • EduRate Index™ Metrics: Rate ranges (APR), term lengths, lender features, and borrower eligibility data collected from official lender disclosures, verified at least monthly. Each record includes the source URL, publication date, and verification timestamp when available.

CollegeWhale Scholarship FastFind™

CollegeWhale Scholarship FastFind™ is our proprietary interface that helps users instantly locate scholarships by type, major, or audience. FastFind™:

  • Surfaces scholarships based on tags, eligibility fields, and structured data from the CollegeWhale database.
  • Allows filtering by award size, deadline month, and estimated application time (Low, Medium, High).
  • Uses contextual cues (e.g., essay, portfolio, transcript, recommendation) to estimate application effort.
  • Enables users to export personalized results in CSV or JSON format for personal planning.

The logic, scoring, and display systems behind CollegeWhale Scholarship FastFind™ are proprietary and not licensed for replication.

CollegeWhale EduRate Index™

The CollegeWhale EduRate Index™ powers our student loan rate comparison tools and is built from verified data supplied by private lenders and financial institutions.
It includes fixed and variable APR ranges, repayment term options, borrower qualification thresholds, and special program perks (such as autopay discounts or cosigner release).
All data are independently verified, normalized for comparability, and updated regularly.
Unauthorized reuse or redistribution without attribution to CollegeWhale.com and the EduRate Index™ is prohibited.

Update Frequency

  • Scholarship Data: Updated continuously; “Last Updated” reflects the most recent verified change to each record.
  • College Scorecard Data: Updated as new official datasets are released by the U.S. Department of Education.
  • EduRate Index™: Verified lender rates and terms are updated on a rolling basis, typically weekly or monthly depending on lender publication cadence.

Attribution & Licensing Requirements

CollegeWhale’s databases, datasets, and exports are protected by applicable copyright, database, and trademark laws. Limited reuse is permitted under specific terms:

  • License: Unless stated otherwise, exported data (CSV/JSON) is provided under the
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
  • Required Attribution: You must credit CollegeWhale.com and provide a live hyperlink to the relevant dataset or hub page when using or reproducing any data derived from CollegeWhale’s databases or the EduRate Index™.
  • Proprietary Tools: The names, logic, and presentation layers of CollegeWhale Scholarship FastFind™ and CollegeWhale EduRate Index™ are proprietary and may not be replicated or resold.
  • College Scorecard Data: Remains governed by U.S. Open Data policies; combined use must include attribution to both the U.S. Department of Education and CollegeWhale.

Limitations & Disclaimers

All data and content are provided “as is” without warranties of accuracy, completeness, or timeliness.
Scholarship and loan information may change without notice.
CollegeWhale’s content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or academic advice.
Always confirm details directly with official sources before applying for financial aid or loans.

Corrections & Contact

We welcome updates, feedback, and correction requests.
To report an error, suggest a listing, or inquire about data use,
please contact CollegeWhale.