Advertising Disclosure

Human Resources Degree (hrdegree.org) is a free resource funded through affiliate advertising partnerships with education providers. This page explains how that advertising works, what it means for you as a reader, and how we maintain the integrity of our rankings and editorial content.

Throughout this site, you will see program listings, search widgets, and links that connect you with schools offering HR degree programs. These placements are provided through our education advertising partners. When you click on these links and take an action, such as requesting information from a school or submitting an enrollment inquiry, we may receive a commission from the advertising network.

You are never charged anything extra. The commission comes from the school's marketing budget, not from your tuition. Whether you find a school through our site or through a direct search, you pay the same tuition.

Advertising placements on this site are labeled with "Ad," "Sponsored," or similar indicators so you can distinguish them from editorial content.

We maintain a strict separation between advertising revenue and editorial research. Specifically:

• Rankings are not for sale. Our 5-factor HR Program Quality Index is calculated from IPEDS and BLS data. Schools cannot pay for a higher position, and we do not adjust scores based on advertising relationships.
• Content is not influenced by advertisers. Career guides, certification analysis, salary data, state market analysis, and all editorial content are written based on independent research. If a program has poor outcomes, we say so regardless of any advertising relationship.
• All qualifying programs are included. Every accredited HR program with 3 or more completions reported to IPEDS is eligible for ranking. We do not exclude non-advertising schools.
• Data comes from federal databases. Statistics are sourced from IPEDS, BLS, SHRM, and other public data. We do not use self-reported school data or modify numbers to favor advertising partners.

You may encounter the following types of advertising across the site:

• Program search widgets that let you search for HR programs by zip code or degree level. These are provided by our advertising partners and display schools that have paid to be listed.
• Program listing ads that appear within page content, typically showing 2-3 schools with brief descriptions and links to request information.
• Sidebar program links in the table of contents area that connect to program search tools.
• Sticky footer banners that appear at the bottom of the screen with a call-to-action to find HR programs near you.

All of these placements are labeled as advertising. The schools displayed in advertising placements are determined by the advertising network based on your location and the page topic, not by our editorial team.

To ensure advertising never compromises our research:

1. Rankings are generated algorithmically from federal data before any advertising placements are added to pages.
2. The ranking algorithm has no input for advertising status. It cannot distinguish between an advertising partner and a non-partner school.
3. Editorial content (career guides, certification reviews, salary analysis) is researched and written independently of advertising operations.
4. We regularly audit our content to ensure accuracy and remove outdated information, regardless of whether the affected schools are advertising partners.

You have the right to:

• Verify our data. Every statistic on this site comes from public databases you can access directly: IPEDS, BLS, SHRM.
• Ignore advertising. Advertising placements are clearly marked. You can use our rankings, salary data, and guides without clicking any ad.
• Report concerns. If you believe advertising is influencing our editorial content or rankings, contact us through our Contact page. We take these concerns seriously.

If you have questions about how advertising works on this site, how we maintain editorial independence, or anything else covered in this disclosure, reach out through our Contact page.

This disclosure was last updated on March 22, 2026.