AIDegrees publishes rankings, guides and statistics on AI and cybersecurity education using official and primary sources. Every number on the site comes from a named public source or from our own calculations on public data, and we never sell ranking placement. Pages are produced with AI writing tools and automated software under human oversight, and we correct errors that readers report.
Where our information comes from
We use the most direct source available, in this order:
- Government data. The U.S. Department of Education (college completions, tuition and fees, institution records, and field-of-study earnings and debt), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (wages, job projections and the Occupational Outlook Handbook), the NSA's National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity map, and NIST.
- Official school pages. Program pages, program requirements, and published tuition and fee schedules.
- Primary research and official statements. The original survey or report (for example Pew Research Center, ISC2, or IBM and the Ponemon Institute), certification bodies' own exam pages, and company filings or announcements.
- News coverage, only when it reports a company's or agency's own statement, and always linked.
Program directories and competitor lists help us find programs to evaluate. They never supply a rank, a price or a statistic.
How we handle numbers
- We do not estimate or round up figures that a source does not publish. If a number is not available, we say so or leave it out.
- We label the period behind each figure, such as May 2025 wages or 2023–24 tuition, and link the source.
- Survey results describe the people surveyed, and forecasts are labeled as predictions.
- On our statistics pages, the build fails if a number in the text does not appear in the cited source data or in our own calculation from it. Certification pages are checked the same way against the exam provider's published facts.
- Most Affordable lists are checked to confirm they really run from lowest to highest cost before a page is rebuilt.
Tuition and cost
We report published tuition, not net price after aid, and keep in-state and out-of-state rates separate. When a dollar figure comes from a school's general cost page rather than the program itself, we withhold it instead of guessing what the program costs. Prices that cover only part of a degree, such as degree-completion tuition, are kept out of affordability rankings and cost medians.
Rankings
Rankings follow our published ranking methodology, which lists every weight and data source. Best lists use a weighted score; Most Affordable lists sort by estimated tuition alone. Ranking tables show only rank, school and location (plus cost on affordability lists) so the order is easy to scan, and full details sit in each school's write-up.
How AI and automation are used
AIDegrees is produced with AI and automated software, and people oversee the work:
- AI: AI writing tools help draft and edit page text, such as guide sections, program summaries, intros and FAQ answers.
- Software: Python scripts gather program listings and public federal data, clean up school names and tuition fields, calculate rankings and medians, and run automated checks on the math, links and page structure.
- People: People set the ranking methodology, choose the data sources, review drafts and check results, decide what gets published, and fix errors that readers report.
AI is never listed as an author, and we do not publish individual bylines. More on how this site is made.
Updates
We refresh pages when federal data files, school tuition or program offerings change. Each page shows the date it was last updated. Programs change quickly, so confirm tuition and admission requirements on the school's site before you apply.
Corrections
If something looks wrong, contact us with the page, the figure or statement in question, and a source if you have one. We check it against the original source, fix the page if we got it wrong, and update the page date.
Independence
We do not sell ranking placement. If we ever have an affiliate or partner relationship, we will disclose it on the relevant page, and it will never determine rank order.