FINDING DATA GEMS
BY MARC HENDEL
S E N I O R R E S E A R C H E R A N D D ATA A N A LY S I S M A N A G E R
I O WA S T U D E N T L O AN
So, You Need Some Data?
 Common problem – you need to create some tables
for a report or slides for a presentation and need
some national, state, or peer comparison numbers
on _____________*, but where do you find them?
*fill in the blank: enrollment, graduation rates, revenues, expenditures, retention
rates, out-of-state students, transfer students, tuition and fees, grant dollars used,
admissions, student loans, number of degrees conferred, EFC, scholarships, total
financial aid awarded, race/ethnicity of the student body, living arrangements,
dependency status, work-study dollars awarded, faculty characteristics, cohort
default rates, net price, enrollment status, PLUS loans, etc.
Goal Today
 The goals for today’s session are:
 to show you some common places to look for data you need
 to show you how to get the data you need
 to show you how to display your data
Organization
 This presentation is organized by data source
 Also available – a handout that is organized by data
category
Common Data Set (CDS)
 Data set based on standard definitions (mostly from U.S.
Department of Education)
 Jointly developed by higher education community and the
College Board, Peterson's, and U.S. News & World Report.
 Goals
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improve the quality and accuracy of information provided to all higher
education stakeholders
reduce the reporting burden on data providers
Common Data Set (CDS)
 Information is available at http://www.commondataset.org/
 A database of all schools is not available but most schools
post their information (PDF or Excel)
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Got to school website and search for “Common Data Set”
 Shortcomings
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Need to compile information on schools and combine
Every school does not always use new information each year
Rely on school using the common definitions
Not every school participates
Common Data Set (CDS) Sections
 A – General Information
 B – Enrollment and Persistence
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Enrollment (FT/PT by gender) (B1)
Racial/ethnic composition of student body (B2)
Number of degrees awarded by type (B3)
Graduation rates (B7-B11)
Retention rate (B22)
Common Data Set (CDS) Sections
 C – First-time, Full-time (Freshman) Admission Information
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Applications, admissions and enrollment (C1)
Other interesting information for those applying (C2-C22)
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descriptive student characteristics
 D – Transfer Admissions
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Applications, admissions and enrollment by gender (D2)
Other interesting information for transfer students (D3-D17)
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information on transfer requirements and policies
Common Data Set (CDS) Sections
 E – Academic Offerings and Policies
 F – Student Life
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First-time, full-time freshmen counts (F1)
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Percentage from out of state
Percentage in Greek system
Percentage live on-campus/off-campus
Percentage age 25 or older
Average age (all students, also)
Common Data Set (CDS) Sections
 G – Annual Expenses
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Components of COA (tuition, fees, room and board, books,
transportation, etc.) (G1,G5)
Definition of full-time (G2)
 H – Aid Awarded to Enrolled Undergraduates
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Scholarship/grant $, self-help (student loans, work-study), parent loans,
athletic awards (H1, H2)
Percentage who borrow and average amounts (H4-H5a)
Common Data Set (CDS) Sections
 I – Instructional Facility and Class Size
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Faculty counts by gender, degree type, FT/PT (I1)
Student-to-faculty ratio (I2)
 J – Degrees Conferred
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Disciplinary area of degrees conferred (percentage) (J)
NCES QuickStats
 NCES is the National Center for Education Statistics
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Part of the U.S. Department of Education
 QuickStats is easy to use
http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/quickstats/default.aspx
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Drag and drop row and column values
 Available data sets (see links to get detailed information)
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Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) data
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) data
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Undergraduates
Graduate students
Baccalaureate and Beyond Study (B&B)
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Graduating seniors
Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS)
 Survey of first-time, full-time freshmen from a given cohort
at three points in their college career
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End of their first year
Three (3) years after the first survey
Six (6) years after the first survey
 Excellent longitudinal data source
Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS)
 Topics include:
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Field of study
Degree type
Grade point average
Hours worked and dollars earned while enrolled
Attendance at school in state of legal residence
Attendance intensity and patterns (number of institutions)
Class level
Tuition and fees paid
Institutional sector
Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS)
 Topics include:
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Aid information
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Total aid
Federal aid flag
Cumulative amount borrowed
EFC
Grant, loan, and federal aid dollars
Work-study aid
Student budget
Veteran’s benefits
Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS)
 Topics include:
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Student characteristics
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Age
Citizenship status
Credit card balance
Disability status
Dependency and marital status
English as primary language flag
Gender
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Military status
Parent’s highest level of education
Race/ethnicity
Total income
Veteran status
Living arrangements (on-campus,
off-campus, etc.)
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS)
 Data based on student-level records
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Collected by survey of students and existing institutional records
 Purpose is to compile a research database of financial aid
provided by all sources
 Primary source for federal research and reports for Pell
Grants and Stafford Loan program
 Nationally representative sample of students
(undergraduate and graduate) and institutions
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State level for California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New York and
Texas in most recent data
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Older data has other states (up to 11)
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS)
 Topics include:
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Field of study
Grade point average
STEM flag
Degree type
Work hours and earnings while enrolled
Primary activity flag: student or employee
Attending school in state of residence flag
FT/PT status plus number of institutions attended
Class level
Graduating senior flag
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS)
 Topics include:
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Financial aid information (too much to list all)
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Aid amounts
EFC
Grant, (federal and private) loan, and work-study dollars
Student budget information
Tuition and fees minus all grant dollars
Veteran and DOD benefit dollars
Institutional characteristics
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Carnegie classification and sector
HBCU indicator
Tuition and fees paid
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS)
 Topics include:
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Student characteristics
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Age
Citizenship status
Credit card balance
Disability status
Dependency and marital status
English as primary language flag
Gender
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Military status
Parent’s highest level of education
Race/ethnicity
Total income
Veteran status
Living arrangements (on-campus,
off-campus, etc.)
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS)
 Demonstration
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http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/quickstats/default.aspx
Select “Beginning college students”
Let’s look at Cumulative federal loan dollars by Carnegie classification
for Plains region
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Click on item to see frequencies
Click on item to assign row or column (drag and drop does not always work)
Click on item to get more information
Click Options to define categories or change column statistic
Click Create Table
 If you get a box talking about weights, click OK
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS)
 Demonstration
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Estimates only
Estimates and standard errors (and weighted sample sizes)
Chart - *sigh*
Download for Excel
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Make a better chart
Small multiples – all on same scale
Always source your data!
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, BPS:2009 Beginning Postsecondary Students
Computation by NCES QuickStats on 3/4/2013
Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B)
 Data examines students’ education and work experiences
after they complete a bachelor’s degree
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Emphasis on new elementary and secondary teachers
 Longitudinal data follows cohorts over time
 Initial cohorts come from NPSAS
 Survey timeframe
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One (1) year after graduation
Three (3) years after graduation
Nine (9) years after graduation
Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B)
 Topics include:
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Education history
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High school GPA
Highest degree completed before current bachelor’s degree
Months between HS completion and college enrollment
Months between HS graduation and completion of bachelor’s degree
SAT score
Years completed of various subjects (math, science, foreign language, etc.)
Employment
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First year after bachelor’s degree
 Income earned
 Employment and enrollment status
 Occupation
Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B)
 Topics include:
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Financial aid
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Institutional characteristics
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Source, type, total amount
Cumulative amounts borrowed for federal and nonfederal loans
Cumulative Pell amount and years received
Cumulative PLUS amount
Federal work-study dollars
Flags for loan utilization
Total federal grants, federal loans, grants, and loans
Control, level, sector
HBCU indicator
Post-baccalaureate enrollment status
Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B)
 Topics include:
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Student characteristics
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Age
Dependency status
Disability status
Parents’ highest level of education
Immigrant status
Income percentile by dependency status (including parents)
Marital status
Military status
Race/ethnicity
Residence status
Gender
Citizenship status
Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B)
 Topics include:
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Transcript
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Credits repeated , credits earned and ratio credits earned to attempted
Number of repeated courses
Average credits earned per year
Number of remedial courses taken
STEM major indicator, credits earned and GPA
Undergraduate Education
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Attendance intensity plus number of schools
Major
Study abroad indicator
Ever tried to transfer credits and number accepted
GPA
Time to degree
QuickStats
 Let’s look at some examples…
 http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/quickstats/default.aspx
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
 Longitudinal database (academic years 1986-87 through
2008-09) that includes institutional data on:
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Finance (revenue and spending)
Enrollment
Staffing
Completions
Student aid
 Maintained by the Delta Cost Project
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
 Data from more than 6,000 public, private not-for profit, and
private for-profit institutions
 More than 500 variables – check here first for institutional
data
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IPEDS consists of nine interrelated survey components that are
collected over three collection periods (Fall, Winter, and Spring) each
year
 The IPEDS Data Center is the place to gain access to all of
the IPEDS data
 Go to: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/Default.aspx
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
 Use it to get information about a peer group of institutions
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
 Use it to rank a group of institutions on a single variable
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
 Get predefined reports – easiest to use
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
 IPEDS Trend Generator
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
 Demonstration
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http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/Default.aspx
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Compare Individual Institutions
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Awards/degrees by program for institutions you enter
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Use Frequently Used/Derived Variables
Rank Institutions on One Variable
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6-year graduation rate for group of institutions (Iowa)
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Can modify list of schools
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
 Demonstration
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Generate pre-defined reports
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Degrees/certificates by gender for group of institutions defined by variables
(COA>$20,000 and in Iowa)
Keep only the institutions existing in the two sets
Trend Generator
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Few choices but easy to use and download
Graduation rate (150%) for bachelor’s or equivalent
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Show trend
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Graph axes wrong – should always start with 0 on vertical axis
Build table
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State (row) and control (column)
Can get trend for any data point
For Data-Wary Miners
 NCES has a website that has pre-made tables from a
variety of sources – College and Career Tables Library
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Baccalaureate and Beyond [B&B]
Beginning Postsecondary Students [BPS]
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study [NPSAS]
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System [IPEDS]
National Study of Postsecondary Faculty [NSPF]
 Go to: http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/tableslibrary/home.aspx
 Explore by data set or by topic
 Easy to use!
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Only challenge – reading the long descriptions
Demonstration
College and Career Tables Library
 Topics include:
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Pre-college experiences
Institutional information
Admissions and enrollment
Cost of attendance
Student financial aid and employment
Student characteristics
Academic experiences
Persistence, retention, graduation and completion rates, time to degree
Transfers
Degrees and certificates awarded
After college experiences
Faculty and staff
Institutional finances
Trends in College Spending (TCS)
 Maintained by the Delta Cost Project
 Go to: http://www.tcs-online.org/Reports/Report.aspx
 Easy to use report generator
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Single institution
Multiple institutions
U.S. aggregate by Carnegie group
 Demonstration
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Cost/price/subsidy (one-year)
PEPS Data
 Postsecondary Education Participants System (PEPS)
 School demographics
 Title IV program information
 Two-year and three-year cohort default rate (CDR) for last
three years
 Total of 14 tables in Access format
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Need to have Access
Download text files and then load into Access
 Go to: http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/PEPS/dataextracts.html
Start here
PEPS Data
 Download the data
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WinZip file
Create a folder with a path that is easy to remember, like C:\PEPS
Extract data to that folder
Download
PEPS Data
 Import the text files
College Navigator
 Great for students and families but also useful for finding
information we may need
 Go to: http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
 Topics include:
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Tuition, fees, student expenses
Financial aid
Net price
Enrollment and admissions
Retention and graduation rates
Programs and majors
Cohort default rates
For Data-Wary Miners II
 There are several sites with predefined tables of
national data
 Digest of Educational Statistics
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http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/
Select a year (can get data over time)
Chapter 3 – Postsecondary Education
Chapter 5 – Outcomes of Education (employment)
For Data-Wary Miners II
 Title IV Program Volume Reports
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http://studentaid.ed.gov/about/data-center/student/title-iv
 College Board Trends
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http://trends.collegeboard.org/
College pricing and student aid annual reports
Download Excel tables of all data
One of the few sources with state-level data
Displaying Data – Help!
 What is important?
Displaying Data – Help!
 Focus on one comparison
Source: College Board 2012 Trends in Student Aid – Figure 6
Displaying Data – Help!
 Focus on multiple aspects of one item
Source: College Board 2012 Trends in Student Aid – Figure 6
Displaying Data – Help!
 Pie charts are evil…
Displaying Data – Help!
Don’t Compare Pie Charts
Source: IA Association of Community College Trustees (http://www.iacct.com/facts.html)
Don’t Compare Pie Charts
Source: IA Association of Community College Trustees (http://www.iacct.com/facts.html)