Terms of use
Last updated October 23, 2026
U Shortlist is a college search and shortlist tool for students and their families, run from Illinois, USA. By creating an account or buying a pass you agree to these terms. They are written to be read, not skimmed; if anything is unclear, email support@ushortlist.com.
What is free
Anyone with an account can use the core of the tool at no charge, with no time limit:
- The Explore map and ranked list across every four-year college in the dataset, scored against the criteria you weight.
- Admission odds, distance, and estimated net price at your household’s income band.
- Every school’s detail page, campus photos, program list, and any AI research that has already been done for that school.
- Notes on any school.
- Up to 5 schools on your list and 1 saved search.
- A household of one person.
The family pass
The U Shortlist family pass is a single payment that unlocks everything else for your household for 18 months from the moment of purchase. It adds:
- Unlimited schools on your list
- Unlimited saved searches
- Side-by-side comparison of any schools
- AI research on any school, not just the pre-researched ones
- The AI curator
- The application tracker
- Family sharing: up to 5 people in one household
- No subscription, no automatic renewal. When the 18 months end, your household goes back to the free tier. Nothing is deleted; anything over the free limits simply becomes read-only until you buy another pass.
- Renewing early never costs you days. A pass bought while one is still active starts when the current one ends.
- The pass belongs to the household, not to a person. Everyone in the household is covered; it cannot be split across households or transferred.
- The price shown at checkout is the price. Sales tax may be added where the law requires it. Promotion codes, when we offer them, are entered at checkout and cannot be applied afterwards.
- Payment is handled by Stripe. We never see or store your card details. You receive a receipt and an invoice from Stripe by email.
Refunds
If the pass is not what you expected, email support@ushortlist.com within 14 days of purchase and we will refund it in full, no questions asked. After 14 days passes are non-refundable, except where the law says otherwise. A refund ends the pass immediately. If we ever shut the service down during your term, we will refund the unused portion.
Households
- A household is one student’s family: parents, guardians, the student, and the relatives helping them. It holds one student profile and up to 5 people, including pending invitations.
- The person who creates the household owns it, decides who is invited, and is responsible for how it is used.
- U Shortlist is built for families to use together. A parent or guardian should create the household, make any purchase, and invite the student.
- Counselors, schools and organisations working with many students need a separate arrangement; email support@ushortlist.com.
Using the service fairly
Please don’t share one household among unrelated families, resell access, scrape the dataset, try to get around the free-tier limits, or use the AI features for anything other than researching colleges for your household. We may close accounts that do.
About the data
College statistics are drawn from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, IPEDS and Equity in Athletics data, from the published school lists of regional tuition exchanges, and from information published by the colleges themselves, and are as current as those official sources. Federal data is released on an annual cycle, so the latest published figures may reflect a recent prior academic year. Admission odds and net-price estimates are modeled from this data to guide your research; they are estimates, not guarantees of admission or cost. AI research is compiled from publicly available sources, including the colleges’ own websites, and reflects the information available on the date it was prepared. Each research card shows that date and a “verified” indicator so you can see how recently it was reviewed. Because colleges update their deadlines, policies, and costs from time to time, we recommend confirming key details directly with the college before making decisions. U Shortlist is a research tool and does not provide admissions, financial, or legal advice.
Changes
We may change prices, the free limits, or what the pass includes. Changes apply to purchases made after they take effect; a pass you have already bought keeps what it included on the day you bought it. We will update the date at the top of this page.
The legal bit
The service is provided as is, and our total liability to you is limited to what you paid for your current pass. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois. Our privacy page explains what we store and why.