Degree Pathways is operated by Jacobus Company, LLC ("we," "us," "our"), a North Carolina limited liability company. Effective date: August 17, 2026. Last updated: August 17, 2026. This page replaces all earlier versions.
Degree Pathways shows you public U.S. government data about fields of study, so you can explore your options with real numbers in front of you. It is information, not advice, and not a prediction about your life. Exploring is free and unlimited, and it does not require an email address. The newsletter is an optional invitation you can decline and keep using everything. An optional $9.99 one-time pass unlocks comparison and export tools for 12 months and does not auto-renew. What you explore is processed in your browser and is not sent to us. If you choose to give us your email, we use it to send the updates you asked for, and you can leave at any time. Everything below says the same things, more precisely.
These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Jacobus Company, LLC governing your use of the Degree Pathways website and application, including any pages, features, and files we make available (together, the "Service"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to the Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
The Service is intended for individuals 18 years of age or older. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly permit anyone under 18 to create a newsletter subscription or purchase a pass. If you are under 18, please explore college and career information with a parent, guardian, or school counselor using resources intended for you.
The Service is an informational research tool. It presents publicly available U.S. federal education and workforce data: the fields of study a school reports degrees under, how many degrees it awarded, published median earnings and student-loan debt for graduates of those fields, current national earnings benchmarks, and the occupations each field is officially linked to, and it arranges that data so it is easier to read and compare. The specific sources, their limits, and how we assemble them are described in Methods & Sources.
We publish no figures of our own. Every dollar amount in the Service is a published federal number, shown with its date and a link to its source, or that same number rounded to the nearest thousand for display.
The Service does not provide academic, career, financial, tax, investment, or legal advice. It does not guarantee admission to any school or program, the current availability of any program, employment, earnings, or any other outcome. It is not a substitute for your school's official catalog, its academic advisors, or its financial aid office, and it is not affiliated with any of them. Always confirm program details and requirements with your institution before making a decision.
Using the Service creates no advisory, counseling, agency, or fiduciary relationship between you and us, and no duty of care beyond what these Terms expressly state. We are not an educational institution, an academic advisor, a career counselor, or a financial advisor, and nothing in the Service should be treated as a recommendation to choose, decline, or change any program, school, career, or financial commitment.
Free access. Core exploration is free for personal, non-commercial use, and does not require an email address, an account, or a payment. From time to time the Service may invite you to join our newsletter. That invitation is optional: declining it does not reduce, limit, or delay your access to any free feature. We may change which features are free, and may introduce, change, or withdraw limits, at any time and without notice.
The pass. An optional one-time 12-Month Pass, currently $9.99 USD, unlocks four premium features (field-to-field comparison, school-to-school comparison, PDF export, and CSV export) for twelve months from the date of issue. Key terms:
The Service's design, original text, arrangement, compilation, and code are owned by Jacobus Company, LLC and are protected by copyright and other laws. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service.
The underlying datasets are not ours. IPEDS and College Scorecard data are works of the U.S. Department of Education and American Community Survey data is a work of the U.S. Census Bureau; all are in the public domain. O*NET data is provided by the National Center for O*NET Development under sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Labor and is used under the Career Exploration Tools license; O*NET® is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor. This product uses Census Bureau data but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau. School names, marks, and colors are used solely for identification and imply no affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement. Full attribution appears in Methods & Sources.
You agree not to: interfere with or disrupt the Service or its infrastructure; access it by automated means at abusive volume, or systematically scrape or bulk-download its content; circumvent or attempt to circumvent free-access limits, licensing, or any technical protection; reverse engineer the Service except to the extent that restriction is unenforceable by law; remove or obscure source attributions, dates, or disclaimers; present its outputs as guarantees, predictions, or professional advice; resell or commercially redistribute its content; or use it in any way that violates applicable law or infringes anyone's rights.
If you send us suggestions, bug reports, or other feedback, you grant us a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to use it to improve the Service, with no obligation to compensate you and no obligation to use it. Please do not send us anything you consider confidential.
The Service links to third-party sites (including O*NET OnLine, College Scorecard, NCES, the Census Bureau, and school websites) and relies on third-party providers (including our hosting provider, Polar for payments, and MailerLite for email). We do not control those sites or providers, do not endorse their content, and are not responsible for them. Your use of them is governed by their own terms and privacy policies.
Every figure in the Service originates from a third-party federal source. We reproduce those figures and their dates; we do not audit, verify, correct, or vouch for the underlying data, and we have no control over it. Federal agencies revise, restate, suppress, delay, and withdraw their own files, and a figure that was accurate when published may later change or disappear. Program names, availability, prerequisites, and requirements come from each institution and may have changed since the reporting year.
Accordingly, and to the maximum extent permitted by law: you use the Service, and any figure in it, at your own risk. You are responsible for verifying anything you intend to rely on against the institution's official catalog, its advisors, its financial aid office, and the original federal source, each of which is linked from the relevant screen. We are not liable for any error, omission, suppression, revision, delay, or discontinuation in third-party data, nor for any decision made in reliance on it.
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR ANY WARRANTY OF ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, OR UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION. We work hard to reproduce federal data faithfully and to verify it before it ships, but we do not warrant that any figure is current, complete, or free of error, and federal sources themselves are revised over time. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, JACOBUS COMPANY, LLC AND ITS OWNERS, MEMBERS, AND CONTRACTORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST OPPORTUNITIES, LOST EARNINGS, TUITION OR EDUCATIONAL COSTS, OR LOSS OF DATA, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR ANY DECISION MADE IN RELIANCE ON IT, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). These limitations apply even if a limited remedy is found to have failed of its essential purpose, and they are a fundamental basis of the bargain between us: we could not offer the Service on these terms without them. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law, including liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, death, or personal injury caused by negligence, and some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Jacobus Company, LLC and its owners, members, employees, and contractors from and against any third-party claim, demand, loss, liability, damage, cost, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to your use or misuse of the Service, your breach of these Terms, your violation of applicable law, or your infringement of any third party's rights. We may assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, at your expense, and you agree to cooperate with that defense. This obligation survives termination.
The Service is provided on an "as available" basis. We do not guarantee that it will be available, uninterrupted, or error-free at any particular time, and we may update, add to, suspend, or discontinue it or any feature at any time, with or without notice. A pass grants access to the premium features as they exist during its term; those features may evolve, and we will not materially reduce the premium feature set for an active pass without offering a reasonable alternative. We may revise these Terms from time to time; when we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and, for material changes, give reasonable notice through the Service. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance. Changes are not retroactive and do not apply to any dispute that arose before they took effect.
You may stop using the Service at any time; because there is no account, there is nothing to close. We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these Terms or use the Service unlawfully. Sections 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, and 17 survive termination.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina and applicable U.S. federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Before filing anything, please email us at support@julieclarkson.com with a description of the problem; we will try in good faith to resolve it within 30 days, and most things are fixable this way. If we cannot, you and we agree that the state and federal courts located in North Carolina have exclusive jurisdiction and venue, and each of us consents to personal jurisdiction there. Nothing here prevents either of us from bringing an individual claim in small-claims court. If you are a consumer residing elsewhere, this section does not deprive you of the protection of mandatory consumer laws of your place of residence.
Time limit. Any claim relating to the Service must be brought within one (1) year after the claim arose, except where applicable law forbids shortening the limitation period, in which case the shortest period the law permits applies. A claim not brought in that window is permanently barred.
Individual claims only. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you and we each agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding, and each waive any right to a jury trial. If this paragraph is held unenforceable as to a particular claim, it remains in force for every other claim, and that particular claim proceeds in court.
Electronic communications. You consent to receive notices and other communications from us electronically. Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in effect and the unenforceable provision is modified to the minimum extent necessary. No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. Assignment. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond its reasonable control. Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersede any prior version. No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms create no rights in anyone other than you and us.
Jacobus Company, LLC · support@julieclarkson.com. We read every message.
Informational use only. Everything in Degree Pathways is general information, not advice, and not a promise about your future. Earnings figures are medians for past graduates drawn from public federal datasets. A median describes a whole group, not any one person: half of that group earned more, half earned less, and your own path will differ for reasons no dataset can capture.
Different figures measure different people. The 1-, 4-, and 5-year earnings figures are separate graduating classes measured in different years, not the same students followed over time, so they can move in either direction. The "today" benchmark is a different group again: everyone nationwide working in that field, ages 25–34, right now. We show these side by side, each labeled and dated, and we never blend them into a number of our own.
Data lags the calendar, by design. Schools report degrees the following fall and the U.S. Department of Education publishes about a year after that; school-specific earnings require the government to wait for careers to begin and then match tax records. Those delays are properties of the federal reporting cycle, not defects in this app. We always show the newest year each source has released, along with the date.
Data limitations. Fields of study are the official federal categories institutions report degrees under; a federal field does not necessarily correspond to a single named major, and a school's own major, concentration and program names, current offerings, prerequisites, capacity, and admission requirements may differ, and a program listed here may have changed or been discontinued since the reporting year. Earnings reflect graduates who received federal financial aid, a large majority at most public universities, but not literally everyone. Where a program is too small for the government to publish a school-specific figure, that figure is withheld for privacy and we show a clearly labeled national figure instead. We refresh on a schedule and verify before publishing, but we cannot guarantee any figure is current or error-free.
No affiliation. Degree Pathways is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or certified by any college, university, or government agency, including the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Census Bureau. School names and colors appear only to identify institutions.
Verify before you act. Before choosing, declaring, or changing a major, or making any financial commitment, confirm the details with your school's official catalog, an academic advisor, and the financial aid office. This app is a good place to start the conversation. It is not the last word in it.
What you explore is processed in your browser. We do not save it, review it, or link it to you. There is no account and no password. The only personal information we collect is an email address, and only if you choose to give us one for product updates. Exploring does not require it. We do not sell or share personal information, we do not run ads, and we do not set advertising or analytics trackers. These statements describe our current practices. If they change, we will update this policy and follow the notice, consent, and opt-out requirements that apply, before the change takes effect.
Jacobus Company, LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company, is the controller of the limited personal information described here. Contact: support@julieclarkson.com.
Your chosen school, search terms, filters, saved shortlist, pinned schools, and comparisons are processed entirely in your browser using local storage. They are not transmitted to us and not stored in any database of ours. Clearing your browser's site data erases them, and we hold no copy to restore. If we ever introduce a feature that would change this, we will update this policy first and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent.
| What | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address | Only if you choose to subscribe to the newsletter. It is never required in order to use the Service. | To send you a double opt-in confirmation and, once confirmed, occasional newsletters and product updates |
| Your license key | Only if you buy and activate a pass | Sent to our payment provider to confirm it is valid, then stored in your own browser to keep premium features unlocked |
| Standard server request data (IP address, browser type, timestamp) | Automatically, on every web request | To serve pages, keep the Service secure, and prevent abuse. We do not use it to identify or profile you, and we do not combine it with your email. |
| A signed cookie and an anonymous use counter | The counter from your first use; the cookie only if you confirm a subscription | The cookie is a signed token meaning "this browser has subscribed", so we stop showing the invitation. It holds no email address or personal data. The counter is a number only, stored in your browser, and it does not record what you explored. |
We do not collect your name, age, school enrollment, grades, test scores, financial aid status, or any other education record. We never ask, and the app has no field for it.
Exploring is free and unlimited and needs no email address. After a few explorations the Service may invite you to join our newsletter. You can decline, and declining changes nothing about what you can use. If you accept, you enter your email, we create the subscription in MailerLite using double opt-in (nothing is confirmed until you click the link we email you), and we then store the signed cookie described above for about a year so that we stop showing you the invitation. Your email is stored in a MailerLite group named "Degree Pathways, Free Access" and is not linked to anything you explored. Unsubscribing stops the emails and does not affect your use of the Service.
If you enter your email in the "Notify me about updates" form, it goes to MailerLite so we can send occasional news about this product and other Julie Clarkson products, typically one to two emails a month. The same double opt-in applies. Every email has an unsubscribe link. Subscribing is not required to use the Service, and we do not sell, rent, or share your address. Should that ever change, we would notify subscribers and obtain consent or provide an opt-out as the law requires, before doing so.
Payments are handled entirely by Polar as merchant of record. We never receive, see, or store your card details. Polar processes your payment and billing information under its own privacy policy and shares with us only what we need to support your purchase. When you activate a pass, your key is sent to Polar for validation; the validated key is then stored in your own browser for its 12-month term.
We keep this list short on purpose. The only third parties that process anything on our behalf are:
We may also disclose information if required by law, to enforce our Terms, or to protect rights and safety. If the business is ever sold or merged, information may transfer as part of that transaction, subject to this policy.
We set no advertising cookies, no analytics cookies, and no cross-site trackers. The only cookie we set is the signed subscription token described in Section 4, and only if you choose to subscribe. Everything else the app remembers uses your browser's local storage and never leaves your device. Because we do not sell or share personal information or run targeted advertising, there is nothing for a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal to opt you out of, but we honor those signals as an opt-out request regardless.
We keep your email only while you are subscribed, plus a short suppression record afterward so we do not accidentally email you again. Purchase and license records are kept by our payment processor as long as needed for tax and accounting obligations. Server request logs are retained by our hosting provider on a short rolling basis. Anything stored in your browser lasts until you clear it, or until the access cookie expires after about a year.
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to know what personal information we hold about you, to access a copy, to correct it, to delete it, to opt out of its sale or sharing or of targeted advertising and profiling, and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. This includes residents of California (CCPA/CPRA), Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and other states with comparable laws, as well as individuals in the UK and EEA where those laws apply.
In practice this is simple, because we hold so little. As of the effective date above, and for the twelve months preceding it: we have not sold or shared personal information, we have not used it for targeted advertising, and we do not profile you or make automated decisions about you. We also do not condition access to the Service, or the price or quality of it, on your giving us personal information, so we operate no financial incentive or loyalty program of the kind those laws regulate. The only personal information we may hold is your email address. If any of this changes, we will say so in this policy before it takes effect, and will add the notices, consent mechanisms, and opt-out links (including a "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link where required) that the law then requires. To access, correct, or delete it, unsubscribe from any email or write to support@julieclarkson.com and we will act within the time your law allows (generally 45 days). We will not ask you to create an account to make a request. You may use an authorized agent. Where a legal basis is required, ours is your consent for email, our legitimate interest in operating and securing the site for request data, and performance of a contract for purchases. If you are in the UK or EEA you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority.
The Service is served over HTTPS. Exploration data is processed on your own device, so we hold no store of it. The small amount of personal information we do hold sits with established third-party providers that maintain their own security programs, and we rely on those providers for the security of the data they process.
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot and do not guarantee the security of any information, whether held by us or by a provider. You provide personal information at your own risk. If a breach affecting your personal information occurs, we will notify you and any regulator to the extent and within the time that applicable law requires, and that notification is the limit of our obligation. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for unauthorised access to, or acquisition, alteration, or loss of, information caused by a third party, including a provider, or by circumstances outside our reasonable control.
The Service is directed to users 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has given us an email address, write to support@julieclarkson.com and we will delete it promptly.
The Service is operated from the United States and intended for a U.S. audience, and the data it presents is U.S. federal data. If you access it from elsewhere, you understand that any information you provide will be processed in the United States.
We may update this policy to reflect changes in our practices, our providers, or the law. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and, for material changes, give reasonable notice through the Service or by email. Where applicable law requires your consent before we apply a materially different use to personal information you have already given us, we will obtain it. Your continued use of the Service after an update takes effect means you accept the updated policy.
Questions about privacy: support@julieclarkson.com.