Google Search gets expanded college search features

Google today announced a number of new features for students looking for more information about U.S. colleges. Last year, Google Search introduced new widgets with information about 4-year universities. Today, it is expanding this to 2-year colleges.

The company says that searches for 'community colleges near me' saw a 120 percent increase in the past two years, with overall searches for college information spiking between August and the fall, as high school students get ready to apply.

With this update, students can now easily compare the tuition cost, acceptance rates and other information of 4- and 2-year schools. The feature will now also show popular certificates and associate programs offered at 4-year universities and students can create lists of schools that specialize in specific fields and filter them based on distance (which often matters because many community college students, for example, stay close to home) and size.

Like before, this extended data set relies on public information from the U.S. Department of Education.

"We've continued to work with education researchers, experts and nonprofit organizations, high school counselors, and admissions professionals to build a useful experience that is attuned to the needs of students, and we will continue to find new ways to make information more easily available and helpful as you search for your future education opportunities," the company notes in today's announcement.