Frequently Asked Questions

GradFax is a free, student-first college search platform. Think "Carfax for colleges" - we pull verified data from government databases (IPEDS, College Scorecard) so you can see the real numbers behind every school. No sponsored rankings, no ads, no BS.

Most of it comes straight from federal sources: IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) for institutional data, and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard for earnings and debt. Maps come from OpenStreetMap and weather from Open-Meteo. A few things no federal survey collects, like greek life participation, are gathered by hand and only shown when we have a source to link to. Every number on the site carries a link to where it came from, so you can check it yourself.

Students can currently use GradFax search without charge. Some planning and report features may have separate terms or prices shown before use or purchase. Available features and prices may change.

We update our core datasets (tuition, enrollment, graduation rates, acceptance rates) every time IPEDS releases new data, typically every 3-6 months. Earnings data from College Scorecard is updated quarterly. Some community-sourced data like reviews and Greek life info is updated on an ongoing basis.

GradFax was built by Josh, a student who picked a school based on marketing promises that turned out to be false. After realizing the entire college search industry profits from student confusion, he built GradFax to give students the verified data they need to make informed decisions.

You can browse school pages and use basic search without an account. A free account gives you access to saved schools, the Decision Matrix, deadline tracking, scholarships, and personalized features. An invite code is not required for current signup.

It's a questionnaire about your preferences, such as campus size, location, academics, and budget. GradFax uses your answers to score schools in the current database and group results into Safety, Match, and Reach categories.

Just type what you're looking for in plain language - "small engineering schools in California under $30k" or "schools with good business programs near the beach." Our search engine extracts your preferences and scores every school against them. No filters to click through.

IDK Mode is for students who aren't sure what they want yet. Instead of asking you to specify preferences, it walks you through casual questions and progressively narrows down schools that might be a good fit. It's the "I have no idea where to start" starting point.

Save schools you're interested in, then use the Compare tool to see them side-by-side on key metrics. For a deeper analysis, the Decision Matrix lets you weight what matters most to you (cost, location, academics, etc.) and generates a ranked score.

Depending on the features you use, we may collect your email, profile and school preferences, saved schools and scholarships, application-planning records, analytics choices, and information you submit through forms or Connect. See the Privacy Policy for details. GradFax Connect activation and partner queries are temporarily paused.

GradFax Connect activation and partner queries are temporarily paused. Before the pause, the partner query code was configured to return selected profile fields after opt-in. See the Privacy Policy for the fields and limitations.

Use Delete Account in your Profile settings. If deletion reports an issue or you need help, email josh@gradfax.com. Some records handled by outside providers or backups may follow separate retention periods described in the Privacy Policy.