Methodology
How CollegeLens builds every score
Every Worth-It Score, program ROI, and trade comparison on this site is built from publicly available federal and labor data. The pages below walk through what goes into each calculation, what we assume, and where the numbers come from. Plain English. No jargon.
Worth-It Score
Our first-pass affordability and outcomes score for any school. Built for high school seniors and their families.
Specialty Worth-It Score
Professional school decision aid that weighs total training cost against specialty-adjusted income arcs across residency and attending years.
Program ROI Score
Graduate program return estimate using total program cost, federal loan order assumptions, and field-based median earnings.
Trade Worth-It Score
Trade-path return estimate using training cost, time to journeyman, and Bureau of Labor Statistics state wage data.
Trade comparison data
How we source BLS wage data, training cost ranges, and debt-to-income assumptions for trade career guides and state salary pages.
Notice a number that does not match what you are seeing elsewhere? Email hello@collegelens.ai with the page and the value. We update sources annually and fix mistakes within a week.
Tuition trend
Published in-state tuition and fees at public four-year colleges average $11,950 for 2025-26, up 2.9% year over year. (College Board Trends in College Pricing)