College Scorecard MCP Server vs Education Data
A side-by-side look at the College Scorecard MCP Server and Education Data MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose College Scorecard MCP Server for education work as a local process; choose Education Data for education as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose College Scorecard MCP Server when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Education domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
SCORECARD_API_KEY. - You want tools like
scorecard_search_schools, scorecard_get_school, scorecard_compare_schools.
Choose Education Data when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Education domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
education_find_schools, education_find_districts, education_district_finance.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Education | Education |
| Quality signal | 56/100 · Good | 53/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | SCORECARD_API_KEY | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 1 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 9 | 4 |
| Full listing | View College Scorecard MCP Server | View Education Data |
Tools & capabilities
College Scorecard MCP Server tools 9
scorecard_search_schoolsSearch institutions by name, location, type, size, acceptance rate, and single-sex flags; sort by supported API fields. Returns core identity and cost metrics.scorecard_get_schoolFull institutional profiles — costs, admissions, outcomes, aid, demographics, single-sex flags, and completion rates.scorecard_compare_schoolsNormalized side-by-side comparison of 2–5 schools on a named topic. Returns metric values, ordinal ranks, and a comparison summary.scorecard_get_programsField-of-study programs at one school: median 1-year earnings, cumulative Stafford/Grad PLUS debt, and IPEDS awards in the two pooled debt-cohort years.scorecard_search_programsFind programs by CIP and credential or keyword, retain degree identity, and rank earnings within each fetched school page.scorecard_get_earningsEarnings of federally aided undergraduate entrants working and not enrolled, regardless of completion: 6/8/10-year medians, 6/10-year P25/P75, and non-male/male 6-year medians.scorecard_value_analysisWorkflow tool: parallel-fetches cost, debt, repayment, and earnings data, then computes ROI metrics — debt-to-earnings ratio and net price to earnings ratio.scorecard_lookup_cipSearch 186 curated NCES CIP 2020 four-digit groups by code, keyword, or verified descendant alias. Served offline.scorecard_list_fieldsSearch the Scorecard field catalog by keyword. Returns matching field paths, descriptions, data types, and sort support. Use before passing custom `fields` parameters.
Education Data tools 4
education_find_schoolsFind US K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS by state, with optional city or name filter. Keyless federal data (NCES Common Core of Data via the Urban Institute). Returns each school's NCES id, name, district, city, enrollment, charter/magnet status, grade range, and free/reduced-price lunch counts. Use for "public…education_find_districtsFind US PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS (local education agencies) by state, with optional name filter. Keyless federal data (NCES Common Core of Data). Returns each district's LEA id, name, county, city, number of schools, enrollment, and teacher counts. Use for "school districts in <state>", "how big is…education_district_financeSchool district FUNDING AND SPENDING — revenue by source (federal / state / local) and expenditure by function, plus computed PER-PUPIL spending. Keyless federal data (NCES CCD school district finance survey, F-33). Use for "how much does <district> spend per student", "school funding by district i…education_child_povertyCHILD POVERTY by school district — Census SAIPE estimates of the number and percentage of school-age children (5-17) in poverty, which drive federal Title I funding. Keyless. Use for "child poverty rate in <district>", "poorest school districts in <state>", "how many students in poverty in <distric…
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
College Scorecard MCP Server
{
"mcpServers": {
"college-scorecard-mcp-server": {
"command": "bunx",
"args": [
"@cyanheads/college-scorecard-mcp-server@latest"
],
"env": {
"SCORECARD_API_KEY": "YOUR_SCORECARD_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Education Data
{
"mcpServers": {
"education-data-2": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-education-data"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
College Scorecard MCP Server is categorized under Education and uses a local stdio subprocess. Education Data belongs to Education and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick College Scorecard MCP Server for education work and Education Data for education.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
College Scorecard MCP Server has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. Education Data has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add college-scorecard-mcp-server and education-data-2 as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, College Scorecard MCP Server has a quality signal of 56/100 (Good) with 0 views, 0 installs and 1 GitHub stars. Education Data has 53/100 (Good) with 1 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars.