USING FINANCIAL AID DATA TO RESPOND TO INFORMATION REQUESTS: REAL WORLD EXAMPLES OF FINANCIAL AID RESEARCH Bonnie Joerschke, Purdue University Al Hermsen, University of Michigan MASFAA October 18, 2005 Charleston, WV

GOALS Become familiar with information on your campus, the internet, or from external sources that will help you answer questions about your aid recipients or funds. Learn how to build comparative data.

GOALS Provide an overview of available and frequently used financial aid databases and their limitations

WHAT IS RESEARCH AND WHY DO IT? Research is a study or investigation to discover new facts or information. –Strategic metrics –Management issues –Daily operation

TYPES OF RESEARCH Qualitative –Surveys, interviews, focus groups –Answers the “who, what, when, where, and how” of an issue –Value-oriented: behavior or attitude of respondents –Cannot always be replicated –Analysis is more subjective

TYPES OF RESEARCH Quantitative –Data driven –More reliable data that can be replicated –Analysis is more objective

SOURCES OF INFORMATION Institution –Fund balances, utilization rates, etc. Agencies/Organizations –State agencies, lenders, the Dept. of Education, guarantors, NASFAA, NACUBO, the College Board, NCES, etc. Internet vs. library

AVOIDING RESEARCH People avoid research because they: –Are not prepared –Don’t know what is involved –Don’t know how to ask/approach the issue –Have had little/no exposure to research –Don’t know available resources

EXAMPLES OF SIMPLE FINANCIAL AID RESEARCH

EXAMPLES OF SIMPLE FINANCIAL AID RESERCH

EXAMPLES OF SIMPLE FINANCIAL AID RESEARCH

Using Financial Aid Research Databases Al Hermsen University of Michigan

Cautions Understand the data base Like type instituitions Inflation factors Age of data Comparative Context Share your data Right number but wrong definition

How do your student budgets compare to other schools? PIRG higher ed website This website contains data on student aid, college costs, textbook prices. Has links to individual state PIRG’s Also contains info on student debt and numerous articles on student aid

What affect do the tax table changes in need analysis have on efc’s? Grapevine website Provides reports on state taxes Also includes general fund appropriations for schools in the state and higher ed programs

How does your state compare to other states in support for higher education? Grapevine website Has extensive information on tax support for higher ed

How does your school compare to other schools in amount of financial aid offered? College Board website “Trends in Student Aid” provides data updated annually on financial aid distributed. Includes information by grant/loan/work “Trends in College Pricing” provides information on cost of attendance. Also, includes information on tuition discounting

How can you keep tract of ISIR and COD activity? Dept of Ed websites Your systems area should be familiar with these to help answer this question

Where can I get inflation factors to support increases in student budgets? Research Seminar Quantitative Economics This website provides information on economic forecasts Also provides information on past inflation factor that is needed to put longitudinal reports in constant dollars

How do your student wages compare to those at other schools? National Student Employment website Helps answer the above question and provides other information on student employment issues

What is the debt burden of our students? NSLDS currentNSLDSPag.jsphttp:// Can help provide information on loans taken at your school and at prior schools Some limitations

How do we compare to other schools? U.S. Department of Education Provides comparative information on things like budgets, enrollment, quality of aid packages, etc. Other NCES websites data/opeloanvol.html /ch_3.asp#table_C /ch_3

Where can I find more information on the issue of rising college costs? Lumina Foundation Lumina Fdn also provides a lot of other useful information for financial aid offices Possible source of funding for research projects html

Compare common data Use the Common Data Set sources for more information on comparing your school to others USNWR Wintergreen/Orchardhouse College Board

How does the size of our staff compare to other schools? Nasfaa Provides updated survey information on the number of staff in financial aid offices by a wide variety of breakdowns Also, provides information on salaries and even a manual on how to conduct research Consider other professional organization websites such as Aacrao and Nacubo

More ways to compare your school with others Intergrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Peer analysis system allows comparison to a group of peer institutions Examples: number of students receiving loans, average loan amounts, percentage receiving student aid, amount of state grants received Will compare your schools info to mean of like-type schools

How does my default rate compare to other schools? Dept of Ed official default rates anagement/cdr/htmlhttp:// anagement/cdr/html Allows you to see the default rates at all FFEL and Direct Loan schools Can even see a list of schools that have successfully appealed

Other information available form NCES Electronic catalog National Education Data Resource Center (NEDRC) tables Quick tables News flash Data Analysis System (DAS)

NEDRC Responds to requests for specific analysis and tabulations on NCES data sets Provides assistance to new users Helps develop tables and graphs Contains over 200 tables on financial aid, education, employment, etc.

Quick tables This source allows you to locate information in the inventory of NCES data basis and do comparative tables E.g. percentage of undergrads receiving selected types of aid in vs

Newsflash Provides information on new reports produced by NCES

DAS Produces tables and correlation matrices using NCES data sets Easily formatted in to a spreadsheet 1000’s of variables Produces means, medians, percent distributions, etc. New state data in NPSAS thru DAS

Questions and Comments Other data bases you find helpful