FINDING DATA GEMS BY MARC HENDEL SENIOR RESEARCHER AND DATA ANALYSIS MANAGER IOWA STUDENT LOAN

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  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 A database of all schools is not available but most schools post their information (PDF or Excel)  Got to school website and search for “Common Data Set” Shortcomings  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  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  Applications, admissions and enrollment (C1)  Other interesting information for those applying (C2-C22)  descriptive student characteristics D – Transfer Admissions  Applications, admissions and enrollment by gender (D2)  Other interesting information for transfer students (D3-D17)  information on transfer requirements and policies

Common Data Set (CDS) Sections E – Academic Offerings and Policies F – Student Life  First-time, full-time freshmen counts (F1)  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  Components of COA (tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation, etc.) (G1,G5)  Definition of full-time (G2) H – Aid Awarded to Enrolled Undergraduates  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  Faculty counts by gender, degree type, FT/PT (I1)  Student-to-faculty ratio (I2) J – Degrees Conferred  Disciplinary area of degrees conferred (percentage) (J)

NCES QuickStats NCES is the National Center for Education Statistics  Part of the U.S. Department of Education QuickStats is easy to use  Drag and drop row and column values Available data sets (see links to get detailed information)  Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) data  National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) data  Undergraduates  Graduate students  Baccalaureate and Beyond Study (B&B)  Graduating seniors

Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Survey of first-time, full-time freshmen from a given cohort at three points in their college career  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:  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:  Aid information  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:  Student characteristics  Age  Citizenship status  Credit card balance  Disability status  Dependency and marital status  English as primary language flag  Gender  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  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  State level for California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Texas in most recent data  Older data has other states (up to 11)

National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) Topics include:  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:  Financial aid information (too much to list all)  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  Carnegie classification and sector  HBCU indicator  Tuition and fees paid

National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) Topics include:  Student characteristics  Age  Citizenship status  Credit card balance  Disability status  Dependency and marital status  English as primary language flag  Gender  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   Select “Beginning college students”  Let’s look at Cumulative federal loan dollars by Carnegie classification for Plains region  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  Estimates only  Estimates and standard errors (and weighted sample sizes)  Chart - *sigh*  Download for Excel  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  Emphasis on new elementary and secondary teachers Longitudinal data follows cohorts over time Initial cohorts come from NPSAS Survey timeframe  One (1) year after graduation  Three (3) years after graduation  Nine (9) years after graduation

Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) Topics include:  Education history  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  First year after bachelor’s degree Income earned Employment and enrollment status Occupation

Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) Topics include:  Financial aid  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  Institutional characteristics  Control, level, sector  HBCU indicator  Post-baccalaureate enrollment status

Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) Topics include:  Student characteristics  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:  Transcript  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  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…

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Longitudinal database (academic years through ) that includes institutional data on:  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  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:

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   Compare Individual Institutions  Awards/degrees by program for institutions you enter Use Frequently Used/Derived Variables  Rank Institutions on One Variable  6-year graduation rate for group of institutions (Iowa) Can modify list of schools

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Demonstration  Generate pre-defined reports  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  Few choices but easy to use and download  Graduation rate (150%) for bachelor’s or equivalent Show trend Graph axes wrong – should always start with 0 on vertical axis Build table 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  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: Explore by data set or by topic Easy to use!  Only challenge – reading the long descriptions  Demonstration

College and Career Tables Library Topics include:  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: Easy to use report generator  Single institution  Multiple institutions  U.S. aggregate by Carnegie group Demonstration  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  Need to have Access  Download text files and then load into Access Go to:

Start here

PEPS Data Download the data  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: Topics include:  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   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  College Board Trends   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 (

Don’t Compare Pie Charts Source: IA Association of Community College Trustees (