How Google is helping students avoid painful college choices

The College Scorecard data for Computer Science colleges in Colorado. (I got my Computer Science degree at Colorado State University).

There is a valuable free tool for anyone considering going to college in the United States: the College Scorecard.

Unfortunately, hardly anyone knows about it.

Thankfully, Google is doing something pretty bold to help. When you now search for a college on Google, the College Scorecard data shows up the right, next to the search results, like this …

What you see when you search for “Colorado State University” on Google.

You can find college cost, graduation and earnings information from the College Scorecard directly in Google Search.

I applaud Google for arming students with more facts so they can make wise decisions on where to go to school. This is a great step towards helping people get a good return on investment for their education dollars.