About College Azimuth
College Azimuth is a free, independent college research site that shows families what each college costs after aid, what its graduates earn and who it serves. Founded in 2025 by Daniel Rogers, it has no commercial relationships with anyone.
What College Azimuth does
School research briefs
A page for each of 656 colleges, with topic pages on cost, graduate outcomes, admissions and majors. Each brings the federal figures together with plain-language explanation and the limits of every measure.
Rankings by program and place
1,179 ranking lists by state, region, field and program, plus social mobility and affordability lists. Each list shows how it was ordered and links every school to its brief.
Analysis
Longer pieces on how college pricing, borrowing and earnings really work, from no-loan policies to Parent PLUS debt. Read the analysis.
Methodology in the open
Every measure, weight and data source is published, along with a technical write-up of the models and how well they hold up. Methodology · Technical methodology.
What College Azimuth stands for
An independent data product
College Azimuth has no commercial relationships with anyone: no colleges, lenders, advertisers or sponsors. It is not affiliated with any government agency.
Outcomes first
Colleges are ranked on what happens to their students: what graduates earn, what families pay after aid, who finishes and how far students move up the income ladder.
Earnings against expectation
Alongside raw earnings, College Azimuth compares graduates’ earnings with what we would expect for the students each college enrolls, so a college gets credit for the difference it makes.
Cost by family income
Net price is shown for each income band, with student and Parent PLUS debt and what the payments look like, because the sticker price rarely tells a family what it will pay.
Every figure dated and sourced
Each measure shows where it comes from and which years it covers. Missing or conflicting figures are flagged, never filled in with a guess.
Free to read
No account and no paywall, for people and for the AI assistants they ask, with a plain-text edition of every page.
Who uses College Azimuth
- Students comparing colleges on what graduates earn and what they will owe
- Parents weighing net price, borrowing and Parent PLUS loans
- School counselors and college access advisers
- Researchers, journalists and policymakers looking at college value and mobility
- AI assistants answering college questions, through the site’s llms.txt and Markdown pages
The team behind College Azimuth
Daniel Rogers
Founder, College Azimuth
“Over the past 10 years as a startup founder and non-profit executive, I had countless conversations with families, students, counselors and policymakers about how to pay for college. To prepare for those conversations, I spent a large amount of time analyzing the data behind higher education. But those insights never really went anywhere beyond those conversations.
College Azimuth is my attempt to change that. The federal government publishes incredible data about college outcomes, but it’s buried in spreadsheets that most families will never find. I built Azimuth to make that data accessible and understandable for the families actually making these decisions.”
Daniel is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where he studies how AI systems inform college decisions. He previously founded and ran a social enterprise that financed low-income college students, raising capital from philanthropic foundations and investors, and has worked as a non-profit executive, at a venture philanthropy fund and as an early employee at Uber.
He holds an MBA in Analytical Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he has coached social enterprises, and attended American University. Before business school he served as an Army Scout and later as a U.S. diplomat focused on complex emergencies.
How College Azimuth works
Data. Figures come from the College Scorecard, IPEDS, colleges’ Common Data Set filings and Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, processed into one consistent set of measures. Each page shows its sources and reporting periods.
Writing. Daniel writes the methodology and the analysis. Explanatory text on school and ranking pages is AI-assisted drafting; every number in it is checked automatically against the published figures, a sentence that disagrees is withheld, and Daniel reads a sample of pages after each release.
Updates. Pages are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart, and each page shows when its data and text were last updated.
Corrections and contact. Email Daniel@collegeazimuth.com with a correction, question or partnership inquiry; most emails get a reply within a few days. Contact.
Key facts
- Name
- College Azimuth
- Publisher
- Azimuth Analysis LLC
- Type
- Independent college research and rankings
- Founded
- 2025
- Founder
- Daniel Rogers
- Headquarters
- Chicago, IL
- Website
- collegeazimuth.com
- Core offering
- School research briefs, college and program rankings, analysis
- Price
- Free; no account required
- Coverage
- 656 colleges, each with a hub and 5 topic pages; 1,179 ranking lists
- Data sources
- College Scorecard, IPEDS, Common Data Set, Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Updates
- Each data release, at most a quarter apart
- Commercial relationships
- None; College Azimuth is an independent data product
- Affiliation
- Not affiliated with any government agency
- Contact
- Daniel@collegeazimuth.com
- Social
- LinkedIn: College Azimuth
Frequently asked questions
Is College Azimuth free?
Yes. Every school brief, ranking and analysis is free to read, with no account and no sign-up.
Who runs College Azimuth?
College Azimuth is published by Azimuth Analysis LLC, founded by Daniel Rogers. It is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or part of any government agency.
Does College Azimuth have commercial relationships?
No. College Azimuth has no commercial relationships with colleges, lenders, advertisers or anyone else. It is an independent data product.
Where does the data come from?
Mostly federal sources: the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and IPEDS, plus colleges’ own Common Data Set filings and Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data. Each figure on a page carries its source and reporting period.
How are colleges ranked?
By results rather than reputation: what graduates earn, what families pay after aid, who a college enrolls and how far it moves students up the income ladder. The methodology explains every measure and weight.
Is the writing on school pages AI-generated?
Explanatory text on school pages is AI-assisted drafting. Every number in it is checked automatically against the published figures, and a sentence that disagrees with the data is withheld. Daniel reads a sample of pages after each release.
How often is the data updated?
Pages are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. Federal sources themselves update about once a year, so a measure’s own source date can be earlier than the release.
How do I report an error?
Email Daniel@collegeazimuth.com. Corrections are made in the next release, and questions usually get a reply within a few days.