Finding Data Gems By marc Hendel Senior researcher and data analysis manager Iowa student loan

FINDING DATA GEMS

BY MARC HENDELSENIOR 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 sourceAlso 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 http://www.commondataset.org/

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 InformationB – 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)


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


E – Academic Offerings and PoliciesF – 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)


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)


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 http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/quickstats/default.aspx 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


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


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


Topics include: Student characteristics

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)


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


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




Demonstration 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 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


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 StudentsComputation 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 timeInitial cohorts come from NPSASSurvey timeframe

One (1) year after graduation Three (3) years after graduation Nine (9) years after graduation


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


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



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


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… 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: Finance (revenue and spending) Enrollment Staffing Completions Student aid

Maintained by the Delta Cost Project


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: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/Default.aspx


Use it to get information about a peer group of institutions


Use it to rank a group of institutions on a single variable


Get predefined reports – easiest to use


IPEDS Trend Generator


Demonstration http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/Default.aspx

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


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: http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/tableslibrary/home.aspx

Explore by data set or by topicEasy 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 ProjectGo to: http://www.tcs-online.org/Reports/Report.aspx

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 informationTwo-year and three-year cohort default rate (CDR) for last

three yearsTotal of 14 tables in Access format

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 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: 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 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 http://studentaid.ed.gov/about/data-center/student/title-iv

College Board Trends 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?


Focus on one comparison

Source: College Board 2012 Trends in Student Aid – Figure 6


Focus on multiple aspects of one item

Source: College Board 2012 Trends in Student Aid – Figure 6


Pie charts are evil…


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)

Date post:	11-Jan-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	hanne
View:	17 times
Download:	0 times

Finding Data Gems By marc Hendel Senior researcher and data analysis manager Iowa student loan

Documents