How we write and check every page

Agency rules come first; commentary never stands alone

When two sources disagree, the newest official document wins. When a rule is changing, we say what it is now, what it becomes and from what date.

1. 1 · Agency rules The Education Department and Federal Student Aid, the IRS, the VA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and state aid agencies.
2. 2 · Federal data The College Scorecard, IPEDS and the National Center for Education Statistics.
3. 3 · Official notices Federal Register notices, FSA electronic announcements and the FSA Handbook.
4. 4 · Commentary Context only. It is never the only source for a figure, a rule or a date.

Figures the site uses in many places, like the Pell maximum or a loan limit, are kept in one checked record, so a change reaches every tool and article at once. Each tool’s rule and sources are on the methodology page.

New and revised articles pass a separate fact check before they go live

1. Brief The question readers ask, in their words, and the sources allowed to answer it.
2. Draft Written in our house style, from the brief’s sources only.
3. Fact check A separate check traces every figure and rule to its source. Anything it can’t trace is cut.
4. Checks Scripts block banned claims, unlabelled paid links and links to pages that don’t exist.
5. Published With its sources listed and the date of its last real change.

We write for adults deciding whether to go back to school, in plain words. A grant figure is what a program pays, never what you will get. We don’t invent statistics, quotes, reviews or people, and an example is labelled as one.

We earn money only when you choose the school-matching form

1. Your result Free and shown first. No email needed.
2. Optional: the school-matching form Labelled “We may earn compensation” wherever it appears.
3. A partner may pay us It can’t change any tool result or article.

• Tool results come from your answers and the published rule. No partner can change what a tool or an article says.
• We never call school matching financial aid, a grant or an aid application, and nothing we run is a government site.
• Partner relationships don’t decide which topics we cover.