# /ipeds/institutions `POST /api/ipeds/institutions` Price: 1 credit Get one US college or university from the IPEDS directory by its UNITID, with its name, campus address and coordinates, ownership and level, Carnegie classifications across every vintage, Title IV participation, federal identifiers and the admissions, aid and net-price links ## How to use it Resolve one institution by its IPEDS UNITID — the same number College Scorecard returns as `id`, so a Scorecard result can be looked up here directly. Scorecard ids with eight digits are synthetic branch ids and resolve to nothing here. `year` selects the survey year, not a filter on the record: a directory record exists per year, and an institution that closed before the year you asked for is reported as not found rather than as a closed institution, so ask for a year it was open. Coded IPEDS values arrive as their official English labels rather than as numbers; a value the institution did not report is absent rather than zero. `successor_id` is set when the institution was merged into another UNITID. ## Parameters - `access-token` (string, required) ## Request body - `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500) - `institution` (string, required) — IPEDS UNITID of the institution (examples: "166683", "104151", "166027"; minLength: 1) - `year` (integer) — Survey year the directory record is read for (default: 2024; min: 1980; max: 2100) ## Response ### 200 — Successful Response - `@type` (string) (default: "IpedsInstitution") - `id` (string, required) - `year` (integer, nullable) - `name` (string, nullable) - `alternative_names` (array) (default: []) - `address` (string, nullable) - `city` (string, nullable) - `state` (string, nullable) - `zip_code` (string, nullable) - `county` (string, nullable) - `county_fips` (string, nullable) - `state_fips` (string, nullable) - `latitude` (number, nullable) - `longitude` (number, nullable) - `region` (string, nullable) - `locale` (string, nullable) - `cbsa_code` (string, nullable) - `cbsa_type` (string, nullable) - `csa_code` (string, nullable) - `necta_code` (string, nullable) - `congress_district_code` (string, nullable) - `phone` (string, nullable) - `web_url` (string, nullable) - `application_url` (string, nullable) - `financial_aid_url` (string, nullable) - `net_price_calculator_url` (string, nullable) - `veterans_services_url` (string, nullable) - `disability_services_url` (string, nullable) - `athletics_url` (string, nullable) - `chief_administrator` (string, nullable) - `chief_administrator_title` (string, nullable) - `sector` (string, nullable) - `ownership` (string, nullable) - `level` (string, nullable) - `category` (string, nullable) - `size_category` (string, nullable) - `highest_degree` (string, nullable) - `highest_award_level` (string, nullable) - `is_degree_granting` (boolean, nullable) - `is_hbcu` (boolean, nullable) - `is_tribal_college` (boolean, nullable) - `is_land_grant` (boolean, nullable) - `has_hospital` (boolean, nullable) - `grants_medical_degree` (boolean, nullable) - `offers_undergraduate` (boolean, nullable) - `offers_graduate` (boolean, nullable) - `is_primarily_postsecondary` (boolean, nullable) - `is_open_to_public` (boolean, nullable) - `is_currently_active` (boolean, nullable) - `status` (string, nullable) - `title_iv_status` (string, nullable) - `postsecondary_status` (string, nullable) - `postsecondary_title_iv_status` (string, nullable) - `reporting_method` (string, nullable) - `is_part_of_system` (boolean, nullable) - `system_name` (string, nullable) - `comparison_group_code` (string, nullable) - `has_custom_comparison_group` (boolean, nullable) - `closed_date` (string, nullable) - `deleted_year` (integer, nullable) - `successor_id` (string, nullable) - `opeid` (string, nullable) - `ein` (string, nullable) - `duns` (string, nullable) - `uei` (string, nullable) - `carnegie` (object, nullable) - `@type` (string) (default: "IpedsCarnegieClassification") - `basic_2000` (string, nullable) - `basic_2010` (string, nullable) - `basic_2015` (string, nullable) - `basic_2018` (string, nullable) - `basic_2021` (string, nullable) - `basic_2025` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_profile_2010` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_profile_2015` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_profile_2018` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_profile_2021` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_profile_2025` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_instructional_program_2010` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_instructional_program_2015` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_instructional_program_2018` (string, nullable) - `undergraduate_instructional_program_2021` (string, nullable) - `graduate_instructional_program_2010` (string, nullable) - `graduate_instructional_program_2015` (string, nullable) - `graduate_instructional_program_2018` (string, nullable) - `graduate_instructional_program_2021` (string, nullable) - `graduate_instructional_program_2025` (string, nullable) - `enrollment_profile_2010` (string, nullable) - `enrollment_profile_2015` (string, nullable) - `enrollment_profile_2018` (string, nullable) - `enrollment_profile_2021` (string, nullable) - `size_and_setting_2010` (string, nullable) - `size_and_setting_2015` (string, nullable) - `size_and_setting_2018` (string, nullable) - `size_and_setting_2021` (string, nullable) - `institution_size_2025` (string, nullable) - `award_level_focus_2025` (string, nullable) - `research_activity_2025` (string, nullable) - `student_access_and_earnings_2025` (string, nullable) ## Errors ### 422 — Validation Error The request body did not validate What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause. - `detail` (array) - `loc` (array, required) - `msg` (string, required) - `type` (string, required) - `input` (any) - `ctx` (object) ### 408 The request ran past its time limit What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner. ### 412 No IPEDS directory record for that UNITID in that survey year What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one. ### 429 Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit. ### 500 Something broke on our side What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers. ### 529 Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry. ## Response envelope Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results) Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code. Every response carries these headers: - `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error) - `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier - `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds - `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently. - `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact. - `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry. - `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.