University Lookup

Overview

A university lookup API that answers two questions. Search by name, country or state to get institutions with their domains and websites; US results come from the NCES IPEDS directory with address, coordinates, control, level, highest degree, HBCU and land-grant flags. Or send a domain or a whole email address and the API says whether it is academic: it matches the domain and its parents against every institution's domains, then falls back to academic suffixes such as .edu and .ac.uk. Paid plans unlock the IPEDS figures for US institutions: enrollment, student-faculty ratio, admission rate, in-state and out-of-state tuition, graduate tuition and room and board.

Live Test University Lookup API →

Endpoint

One host, one path per API. The block below shows this call in four languages; every one of them is the same HTTP request. Making requests covers the timeouts, retries and parameter rules that apply to all of them. The SDKs wrap the same call in a typed client.

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curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/universitylookup?name=Stanford&domain=stanford.edu&email=jane%40cs.stanford.edu&country=US&state=CA&limit=10" \
  -H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here"

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const res = await fetch('https://api.apiverve.com/v1/universitylookup?name=Stanford&domain=stanford.edu&email=jane%40cs.stanford.edu&country=US&state=CA&limit=10', {
  headers: { 'x-api-key': 'your_api_key_here' },
});

if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);

const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data);

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import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/universitylookup?name=Stanford&domain=stanford.edu&email=jane%40cs.stanford.edu&country=US&state=CA&limit=10",
    headers={"x-api-key": "your_api_key_here"},
    timeout=15,
)
res.raise_for_status()

print(res.json()["data"])

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package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/universitylookup?name=Stanford&domain=stanford.edu&email=jane%40cs.stanford.edu&country=US&state=CA&limit=10", nil)
	req.Header.Set("x-api-key", "your_api_key_here")

	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()

	out, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(out))
}

Replace your_api_key_here with the key from your dashboard. When the inputs arrive as a list rather than one at a time, batch requests run up to 200 of them through this same API in a single call.

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — there is no token exchange and no per-endpoint scope to configure. Authentication covers creating, rotating and revoking keys.

Parameters

Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Response

Every API returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape. Response format covers the envelope, the other output formats and how premium fields are withheld.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "domain": null,
    "isAcademicDomain": null,
    "matchType": null,
    "matchedDomain": null,
    "count": 1,
    "totalMatches": 1,
    "universities": [
      {
        "id": "us-166683",
        "name": "Massachusetts Institute of Technology",
        "aliases": [
          "MIT",
          "M.I.T."
        ],
        "country": "United States",
        "countryCode": "US",
        "stateProvince": "MA",
        "city": "Cambridge",
        "address": "77 Massachusetts Avenue",
        "zip": "02139-4301",
        "latitude": 42.359243,
        "longitude": -71.093226,
        "timezone": "America/New_York",
        "domains": [
          "mit.edu",
          "web.mit.edu"
        ],
        "website": "https://web.mit.edu/",
        "phone": "6172531000",
        "ipedsUnitId": 166683,
        "control": "private_nonprofit",
        "level": "four_year",
        "highestDegree": "doctorate",
        "offersUndergraduate": true,
        "offersGraduate": true,
        "hbcu": false,
        "tribal": false,
        "landGrant": true,
        "locale": "city_midsize",
        "sizeBand": "10000_19999",
        "system": null,
        "stats": {
          "enrollmentTotal": 11920,
          "enrollmentUndergraduate": 4576,
          "enrollmentGraduate": 7344,
          "studentFacultyRatio": 3,
          "admissionRate": 5,
          "tuitionInDistrict": 60156,
          "tuitionInState": 60156,
          "tuitionOutOfState": 60156,
          "graduateTuitionInState": 59750,
          "graduateTuitionOutOfState": 59750,
          "roomAndBoard": 19390,
          "tuitionYear": "2023-24",
          "enrollmentYear": 2023
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change. Error handling covers the full status list and which of them are worth retrying.

Use cases

Student Discount Verification

Check that a sign-up email belongs to a university before granting an education plan.

Lead Enrichment

Turn the domain on an inbound lead into the university behind it, with country and website.

College Search

List US colleges in a state with control, level, enrollment and tuition for comparison tools.

Form Autocomplete

Suggest institution names as students type their school on an application form.

Other ways to use University Lookup

Set up University Lookup on APIVerve, or reach the same source a different way. Your APIVerve account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

Related

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