Editorial Standards

The one test

Every guide has to pass a single test: it must be genuinely useful even if the site shows you no offers at all. If a page only makes sense as a path to a product, it doesn’t belong here. Our editorial guides carry no sales pitch—only links to our own guides and tools and to official sources.

Sources and accuracy

• We rely on primary, authoritative sources: federal and state agencies, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Education, and established nonprofits. Every guide lists the sources it used.
• We don’t publish invented statistics, fabricated expert quotes, made-up case studies, or testimonials we can’t stand behind.
• Numbers are checked against the linked source. Where a figure changes from year to year—award amounts, loan limits, deadlines—we describe it in general terms and flag it as time-sensitive rather than printing a number we can’t keep current.
• We distinguish general guidance from anything that depends on your circumstances, and we point you to the office or professional who can speak to your case.

Dating and review

Each guide shows when it was first published and when it was last reviewed. We re-check time-sensitive facts at least once a year and whenever the underlying rules change. Corrections are made promptly; if a change is significant, we note it.

Editorial independence

Sponsored placements and affiliate links are labelled wherever they appear, and they are kept separate from editorial recommendations. A commercial relationship never buys coverage, a ranking, or a kind word. See our affiliate disclosure for how those arrangements work.

On how these guides are produced

We use software tools to help draft and check our work, and every guide is reviewed against its sources before publication. The standards on this page apply regardless of how a draft begins: the facts must be real, sourced, and current.

Corrections and feedback

If you find an error or something out of date, tell us. Accuracy is the whole point, and we treat a good correction as a favor.