Higher Ed Data & Story Tipsheet for IRE18

By

Dan Bauman, Kim Clark, Adam Harris, Maria Perez

Pitch to editors: Stories about higher ed affordability and access are hot!

“Financial aid” gets more SEO than many pop stars

“Student loans” gets more search than Steph Curry (mostly)

Student loans story example

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How to find your debt dropout factories

College Scorecard Data (HUGE, complicated database. Requires some study of the data dictionary)

Repayment rates cut by years since start, completion status, median debt load for institution, demographics such as completers, transfers, withdrawers, Pell users, income, first-gen, gender.

Also useful:

Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (Requires some training.)

Variables: #, % and $ for student loans for freshmen and undergraduates

Federal Student Aid Data Center: (easily downloadable spreadsheet)

Default rates

Borrowing #, $ for student and parent loans (Click on Loan Volume for the time period you’re interested in)

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More great student loan stories

The U.S. Makes It Easy for Parents to Get College Loans—Repaying Them Is Another Story

Yale Suing Former Students Shows Crisis in Loans to Poor

New Jersey’s Student Loan Program is ‘State-Sanctioned Loan-Sharking’

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Colleges Flush With Cash Saddle Poorest Students With Debt

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This Is the Blue-Collar Student Debt Trap Trucking beckons to thousands of Americans with higher wages and the freedom of the open road. But some training programs come with chains.

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Is Student Debt Big Enough to Hold Back the Economy? What the Research Says

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Credit: Susan Dynarski

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Student loan context - general trends & history

NY Federal Reserve

The Institute on College Access And Success annual reports on student debt.

FSA has national composites, segmented in all sorts of ways.

National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (See, for example, Quickstats tool)

Susan Dynarski’s presentation on Student Loan Myths for EWA

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Student loan default story ideas & sources

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In 2015, the National Consumer Law Center found 22 states where one could lose their professional or driver's’ license for not paying student loans. Depending on open records law in your state, those revocations could be public records.

Schools will sue students to recoup money. Do a search of your state or county’s online court docket (fingers crossed!) to find them. PACER can be hit or miss.

Also: see state Attorney General, FTC and regulatory agencies

Servicing issues: CFPB (download data and reports ASAP while they are still public!)

Student loan data tips - quick stats on individual colleges

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National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) College Navigator. (Easy to use.)

Variables: Federal & “other” student loans for freshmen. Federal only for all undergrads. 3-year default rates on federal student loans.

College Scorecard Variables: Loan repayment rates

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Socioeconomic diversity on campus

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Socio-economic diversity - general trends

National Student Clearinghouse reports

Digest of Education Statistics (US Dept. of Ed)

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Socio-economic diversity - how to compare colleges

Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (Requires some training.)

Variables: Enrollment by race, gender & Pell eligibility by level (freshmen and/or all undergrads) over the past decade.

Graduation rates by race, gender & Pell status

Equality of Opportunity Project Big database of data showing the socioeconomic mobility by income quintiles of freshmen who started in the 1990s.

Socioeconomic diversity - data on individual colleges

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) College Navigator. (Easy to use.)

Variables: totals by race for all undergraduates.

Common Data Set: (Easy to use. But not all colleges posts this publicly.)

Variables: racial breakdown for freshmen and all undergrads - which can flag changes/trends.

Collegeresults.org:

Variables: Graduation rates for colleges & similar schools by race & gender.

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Undocumented immigrants & DACA in Higher Ed

Undocumented & DACA students tips (1)

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Data and estimates of unauthorized immigrant population and DACA recipients available at:

• USCIS: number of DACA recipients per State and statistical area.
• Pew Research Center: estimates of unauthorized immigrant population by metro area and by state.
• Migration Policy Institute: estimates of unauthorized immigrant population by state (broken down by age, country of origin and other characteristics), metropolitan statistical area and county (broken down by country of origin) and of immigrants eligible to apply for DACA and participation rate by state.

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Undocumented & DACA students tips (2)

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Studies and enrollment estimates and data:

• Estimates of DACA students enrollment at the Migration Policy Institute.
• Local organizations may collect data on these students. The Florida College Access Network asked public state universities and colleges how many students had applied for out-of-state tuition waivers:
• They found out that during the 2014-15 academic year, 2,475 students used waivers to attend 31 public colleges and universities in Florida. The vast majority of them would be DACA and undocumented students. They offered a breakdown by institution.
• If DACA or undocumented students need to fill in some form in your State or apply for some specific aid program, you may be able to quantify them.
• Undocumented Students in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature, 2001 to 2016: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654318783018#articleShareContainer

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Undocumented & DACA students tips (3)

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• The advocacy group TheDream.US, which gives scholarships to DACA eligible students, has numbers on their applicants.
• Be in touch with sources close to these students, and not necessarily from the education beat, to learn about the issues that affect these students: nonprofits that help immigrant students, immigrant advocacy groups, coaches –and that person who knows everyone in town.
• Look at how the issues that immigrant students face could affect your county/state?
• Obtaining exact numbers to count this population can be tough or impossible. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a story.

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College affordability

College affordability tips - trends & history

College Board Trends in Pricing and Trends in Aid

College affordability - comparing colleges

Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (Requires some training.)

Net price by income level. If the net price for the 2 lowest income groups is < Fed. student loan + work study award ($8k-$10k) then the college is unaffordable for that group.

Fee-based: Peterson’s (ACCESS) Wintergreen Orchard House & US News all compile Common Data Set + some proprietary questions

Breakdowns of types of scholarships (athletic, arts, academic)

% of need met, % whose need is fully met. (Note many colleges don’t answer or give self-serving answers. Factcheck with the net price by income data.)

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College affordability - stats on individual colleges

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) College Navigator. (Easy to use.)

“Sticker” prices

“Net” prices - average and by income groupings (Hint: if net price for families earning <$30k/yr = >$10k, the college is not meeting need & is unaffordable.)

% receiving federal grants (use this to back out % paying full “sticker” price)

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Common Data Set (obtainable from the college, or check Collegedata.com) (Easy to use)

#s and $s of all kinds of scholarships (sports, arts, etc.)

% need met, % of students whose need was fully met

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Coming this fall: Updated Tuition Tracker from EWA, Hechinger & Dallas Morning News

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Money.com estimated net price of a degree

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Alumni outcomes - trends & history

Georgetown Center for Education and the Workforce lots of reports that break down outcomes by major, race, etc.

U.S. Department of Labor earnings & employment rates by education level

Alumni outcomes - comparing colleges

College Scorecard Data (HUGE, complicated database. Requires some study of the data dictionary): Repayment rates cut by years since start, demographics

Equality of Opportunity Project Big database of data showing the socioeconomic mobility by income quintiles of freshmen who started in the 1990s.

State databases (require some study and practice) Several states such as Colorado, Florida, Tennessee Texas & Virginia post earnings by college AND PROGRAM (i.e. major)

Alumni outcomes tips - individual colleges

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College Scorecard: Earnings & employment of Title IV recipients 7 years after start.

State databases: Several states such as Colorado, Florida, Tennessee Texas & Virginia post earnings by college AND PROGRAM (i.e. major).

Payscale College Salary Report : self-reported earnings, job type.

Long-term socioeconomic mobility: NY Times tool backed by Equality of Opportunity Project data

Linkedin Premium search: (Free premium accounts available to reporters who participate in 1-hour training annually.) You can look up the Linkedin profiles of alumni of each college.

Questions?

Dan Bauman - DanBauman77@Gmail.com

Kim Clark - KClark@EWA.Org

Adam Harris - aharris@theatlantic.com

Maria Perez - Maria.Perez@Naplesnews.com