What this does
This page explains, in plain words, what the site keeps about you and what it does not, and what its data can and cannot tell you. It covers:
- what works without an account (everything except saving reports);
- what Sign In is for and what it stores;
- what the site's usage counts record, and on which pages;
- the error reports and security reports your browser may send;
- cookies and the few things the site keeps in your browser;
- the disclaimer bar at the bottom of every page;
- Report a problem, and what it sends;
- the known limits of the data.
It helps students who want to use the site without signing up, parents who want to know what a teenager's visit leaves behind, and counselors who use the site with a class.
Before you start
- You need nothing. No account, no email, no sign-up. Every page and every number works without signing in.
- This page describes how the site works today. The Privacy Policy is the legal statement, and the Cookie Policy and Terms of Service go with it. Where wording differs, this page says what the site's code does, and the legal pages govern.
- "Showing data for" does not identify you. The state you pick is remembered only in your own browser, so the next page opens on the same state.
- Sign in only if you want to save reports. Saving is the one feature that needs it.
Step by step
These steps cover signing in, saving a report, signing out and reporting a problem. You can skip all of them and still use every page.
- Click Sign In at the right end of the menu bar. A dialog opens: Sign in to Samantar, Sign in to save your results., with an email box and the line Reports you save are kept for this sign-in. Once it expires, they can't be found again.
- Type your email address in the box marked your@email.com and click Send sign-in link. The dialog says Check your email — link sent!
- Open the email, subject Sign in to Samantar, and click the link within five minutes. A page shows Signed in! Redirecting… and takes you back to the page you signed in from. The menu bar now shows Account ▾.
- Run a report on the ROI Calculator, a comparison result, or Degrees & Training for a career. Click ☆ Save this report. The button turns to ★ Saved.
- Click Account ▾, then My Reports. Your saved reports are listed by category. Opening one shows it with the latest data.
- Click Account ▾, then Sign Out. The sign-in is removed from your browser and the menu shows Sign In again.
- To report a problem, click Report a problem at the bottom of any page. Your email app opens a new message with the page and site version in the subject. Fill in what happened and send it yourself.
Every control explained
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sign In | Menu bar, right end, on every page | Opens the Sign in to Samantar dialog. | Shown when you are not signed in | Optional. Only saving reports needs it. |
| Email box (your@email.com) | Sign-in dialog | The address the link is sent to. | Empty, with the cursor in it | Used once to send the email, then thrown away; it is not saved in the site's database. Empty box: Enter your email address. |
| Send sign-in link | Sign-in dialog | Emails a one-time link that works for five minutes. | — | Shows Check your email — link sent! The site answers the same way for any address, so it never reveals which addresses exist. |
| Close (×) | Sign-in dialog, top corner | Closes the dialog without signing in. | — | Clicking outside the dialog also closes it. |
| Account ▾ | Menu bar, in place of Sign In | Opens a small menu. | Shown while signed in | The sign-in lasts about one hour. |
| My Reports | Account ▾ menu | Opens your saved reports. | — | Up to 5 per category: ROI Calculator, Degrees, Careers, Compare. |
| Sign Out | Account ▾ menu | Removes the sign-in from your browser. | — | Your saved reports stay on the server until they expire. |
| Delete my account and saved reports | Account ▾ menu | Deletes every report saved under this sign-in and signs you out. | — | Asks Delete your account and all your saved reports? This can't be undone. first. Then Your account and saved reports were deleted. On a failure: Could not delete your account. Try again. |
| ☆ Save this report / ★ Saved | ROI Calculator, comparison results, Degrees & Training for a career | Saves this page's report to My Reports; clicking ★ Saved removes it again. | ☆ Save this report | When a category already has 5 reports, the site offers to open My Reports so you can remove one. |
| Sign in to save | Same pages, when you are not signed in | Opens the sign-in dialog on the same page. | Shown when not signed in | You stay on the page you were reading. |
| Report a problem | Footer of every page | Opens a new message in your own email app. | — | Nothing is sent until you press send in your email app. |
| Contact Us (footer) / Contact (menu bar) | Footer and menu bar | Opens the contact form. | — | The form has no name or email field. See Contact. |
| Disclaimer bar links: Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, Cookie Notice | Bar fixed to the bottom of the screen | Open the legal pages. | — | The bar has no close button; it stays on every page. |
| Footer links: About, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer | Footer of every page | Open those pages. | — | "Cookie Notice" in the bar and "Cookie Policy" in the footer are the same page. |
| Showing data for | Top of data pages, under the menu bar | Sets the state for the site's pages and remembers it in your browser. | No state (U.S.), or the state of the page you opened | Pick United States to clear the remembered state. See Choosing a state. |
Reading the results
This section lists everything the site keeps, where, and for how long.
What works without an account
Everything except saving reports. Every page, search, chart, comparison and calculation works without signing in. Only Save this report and My Reports need it.
What signing in stores
| Item | What it holds | Where | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your email address | Used once to send the link | Not stored by the site | Discarded after sending |
| One-time link record | A random token, a random account number and the address of the page you signed in from (to bring you back there) | Site database | Deleted when used, or after 5 minutes |
| Sign-in token | A random account number and an expiry time; no name or email | Your browser's storage | About 1 hour; removed by Sign Out |
| Saved report | The label (the report's title, at most 40 characters; a longer title is cut), the page address with your picks (school, degree, career), the category and the save date | Site database, under the random account number | 12 months from the save |
With the email link, each sign-in starts a new, anonymous account. The site keeps no link between your email address and your account. Reports you save are in My Reports while that sign-in lasts, about one hour. A later email sign-in starts a fresh, empty account and cannot reach the earlier reports.
A saved report stores the page address, not the numbers. Reopening it shows the latest data. A saved ROI Calculator run reopens with your school, degree, level and career; the residency, savings and living-cost inputs reopen at their defaults.
There is no delete-account button. To ask for your data to be deleted, use the contact details in the Privacy Policy.
Usage counts (analytics)
Four pages send anonymous usage events: the ROI Calculator, a career's detail page, a degree's detail page, and comparison results. No other page sends them, including this guide, the home page and the state pages.
| Recorded | Not recorded |
|---|---|
| Which part of the site (calculator, career, degree, compare) | Your IP address |
| What happened: a page was viewed, printed or saved as PDF; a calculation started or finished; careers or degrees were compared; a table was sorted; a link to another page was clicked | Any account number, session number or device ID |
| The public names of the school, degree or career you picked | Your browser or device type |
| The state you are viewing, and a region worked out from the school you picked (never from your location) | What you type in a search box (only its length, in rough groups such as "4-7" characters) |
| The hour it happened (the time is cut to the hour) | The dollar amounts you enter in the calculator |
The server drops fields such as name, email, phone and address if they ever arrive. Single events are deleted after 90 days. Before that they are rolled into counts per day (kept 13 months), per week (2 years) and per month (10 years). The counts set no cookies and use no outside analytics service.
Error reports and security reports
- Error beacon. Every page loads a small script that, when a page breaks, sends the error message, the page path (never the part after "?"), the script and line, and the first three lines of the error trace. It sends a scrambled code made from your browser's name, never the name itself, and at most five reports per page visit. The server adds a scrambled code made from your IP address and writes one line to its log. Nothing goes into a database.
- Security (CSP) reports. On the live site, your browser may report when it blocks content that the site's security rules do not allow. The server keeps counts only: which rule, which outside site was blocked, and the page's file name. It writes one summary line every five minutes. No full addresses, IP addresses or browser details are kept.
Contact form and limits on repeat requests
The contact form sends your message to the site's inbox by email; the message is not saved in the site's database. To stop spam, the site keeps a scrambled code of your IP address for up to 24 hours. Other services keep similar scrambled codes only for the minutes they need to limit repeat requests.
Cookies
Ordinary browsing sets no cookies. There is no cookie banner because there are no advertising or tracking cookies to consent to.
| Cookie | When | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
sam_exchange | Only while an email sign-in link is opened | Carries the new sign-in from the link to the page that stores it | Removed as soon as it is read; at most 5 minutes |
samantar_beta, samantar_beta_hint | Only if someone enters an invite code on the old beta invite page | Left over from the private beta; nothing on the site reads them now | 30 days |
The Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy describe one strictly necessary cookie for your signed-in session. In the site as built today, the sign-in itself sits in your browser's storage (below), and the only sign-in cookie is the short-lived one above.
What the site keeps in your browser
| Name | Holds | Written when | Sent anywhere? |
|---|---|---|---|
samantar_token | Your sign-in token | You sign in; removed by Sign Out | Only to the site, when you save or list reports |
samantar.state.v2 | The state you picked in Showing data for | You pick a state, or open a link that names one; cleared when you pick United States | No; pages use it to pick the state |
samantar_beta_token (lasts until the tab closes) | An old beta invite code | Only on the old beta invite page | No |
The ROI Calculator keeps nothing here: your inputs stay on the page, and a run is kept only when you save it to your account. (Earlier versions stored the last run's inputs under education_roi_methodology; the calculator page now removes that entry when it loads.)
You can clear all of these with your browser's "clear site data" setting. The site then forgets your state and your sign-in.
The disclaimer bar
A cream bar is fixed to the bottom of nearly every page. It reads: Data on this site reflects historical aggregates from federal and institutional sources. It is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, career, or academic advice. Individual outcomes vary and are not guaranteed. By using this site you agree to our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Cookie Notice. It has no close button and stores nothing; it appears on every visit. The page leaves room under its content so the bar never covers it.
Report a problem
Report a problem is an email link, not a form. It opens a new message in your own email app, addressed to the site's admin inbox. The subject holds only the site version and the page path, for example "Samantar beta" followed by the version number and the page's path. The part of the address after "?" is never included. The body has three headings for you to fill in: What happened:, What you expected: and Browser and device:. The last one is left blank on purpose, so you choose what to share. Nothing is sent until you press send.
For the legal wording, see the Privacy Policy. For data sources, read how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A parent wants to know what her son's use of the site leaves behind, and whether to sign in.
- Her son opens the home page and picks Ohio in Showing data for. His browser remembers "Ohio" so the next page opens on Ohio. Nothing is sent to the site about the choice, and no cookie is set.
- He searches careers and opens a career's detail page. That page sends an anonymous event: "career page viewed", the career's public name, Ohio, and the hour. No IP address, no device details.
- He runs the ROI Calculator for one school and degree. Events record that a calculation started and finished, with the school's name, but not the dollar amounts he typed. His browser keeps a copy of the run for itself.
- He wants to keep the result, so he clicks Sign in to save. The sign-in dialog opens on the same page. He types his email address, gets the email and clicks the link within five minutes.
- The link brings him back to the calculator, where he clicks ☆ Save this report. The site stores the report's label and page address under a random account number. His email address was used once to send the link and is not stored.
- An hour later the sign-in has ended. When he signs in again by email, My Reports is empty, because each email sign-in is a new account. His mother suggests he also use the calculator's Save as PDF button when he wants to keep a result.
- A chart looks wrong to him, so he clicks Report a problem. His email app opens with the page path and site version in the subject. He describes the chart and sends it from his own email.
Common questions
- Do I need an account?
- No. Every page works without one. Signing in is only for saving reports to My Reports.
- Why did my saved reports disappear?
- Each email sign-in starts a new anonymous account, because the site does not link your email address to an account. Reports saved under one sign-in cannot be reached after it ends, about an hour later. Saved reports also expire 12 months after they are saved.
- Does the site record what I type into search boxes?
- No. On the four pages that send usage events, a search records only how long the text was, in rough groups (such as 2-3 or 8+ characters), never the text itself.
- Why is there no cookie banner?
- The site sets no advertising, tracking or analytics cookies. The only cookies are a short-lived one during an email sign-in and two left over from the old beta invite page.
- The Privacy Policy mentions a session cookie. Which is right?
- The Privacy Policy is the legal statement. In practice the sign-in sits in your browser's storage for about an hour, and the only sign-in cookie lasts a few minutes during an email sign-in. Either way, it is only used while you are signed in.
- Can I hide the disclaimer bar?
- No. It is meant to be visible on every page at all times. It does not cover content; the page leaves room for it.
- Does Report a problem send my browser details?
- No. It only fills in the page path and site version. The Browser and device: line is blank for you to fill in if you wish, and nothing is sent until you send the email yourself.
- How do I delete what the site holds about me?
- Clear the site's data in your browser to remove your state, sign-in and last calculator run. Remove saved reports one by one from My Reports, or all at once with Account ▾ → Delete my account and saved reports, which also signs you out. For anything else, use the contact details in the Privacy Policy.
What this does NOT do
- The site is not a job board. It does not host applications or recruit.
- It is not advice. Every figure is an estimate or a past average, not a guarantee.
- It does not ask for your name, and it does not store your email address.
- It does not store your IP address in a database, and it does not work out your location from it.
- It does not use advertising, outside analytics services or tracking pixels, and it does not sell data.
- It does not record what you type into searches, or the amounts you enter in the calculator.
- It does not keep saved reports across email sign-ins. Delete my account and saved reports reaches only the reports of the sign-in you are in.
Known limits
What the numbers on every page can and can't tell you.
Job postings are a small sample
New job postings come only from free public sources: mostly federal job listings (USAJobs), plus a few employer job boards. Texas and California also keep postings we collected from paid job-data providers before we stopped using them in October 2026, and Florida, New York, Illinois and Georgia keep a one-time snapshot from that month. In many other states the postings cover less than 1% of open jobs. Each state's Jobs Trends page says how much of the market its postings cover.
Wages are from May 2024
Pay figures come from the BLS wage survey (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) for May 2024. They describe what people in a career earned then, not what a job pays today.
Projections are the latest state release we have
Ten-year job outlooks come from each state's most recent long-term projections that we have loaded: 2022–2032 for most states, 2024–2034 where the state has published that cycle (New York and Hawaii). The U.S. figures use the BLS 2024–2034 projections. A projection is an estimate, not a promise.
The latest month of unemployment is preliminary
The newest month of state unemployment numbers is a first estimate. BLS revises it the next month, so the most recent point on an unemployment chart can change a little.
Related
- Saved reports
- Contact
- Choosing a state
- ROI Calculator
- Jobs Trends, for each state's postings coverage
- Legal pages: Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Terms of Service, Disclaimer
- About