Public Data Sets
Data is a valuable resource for research, academics, and strategic decision-making, which makes easy access to data incredibly important. A variety of public access data repositories concerning higher education are available for use in research and academics. Below are data providers that AS&IR works with regularly, and we welcome any suggested additions to this list of resources.
American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) conducts an annual survey of nearly 1,000 colleges and universities on their faculty compensation practices.
The Chronicle of Higher Education Data
In addition to providing news and analyses on current events in higher education, the Chronicle provides access to data such as the AAUP Faculty Salary Survey, Executive Compensation, and the Almanac of Higher Education.
College Insight provides a data library with a customizable table builder, accessing data on college access, affordability and success.
Presented by the U.S. Department of Education, the Scorecard provides a broad data overview of an institution, as well as the ability to download the entire data set for all reporting institutions.
The Common Data Set Initiative is a collaboration between higher education institutions and publishers to provide access to accurate and comparable data about the undergraduate experience. This set of data is produced annually and used as a source for ranking and compliance data requests as well as other information needs. BU’s data is provided here among official BU Facts.
Developed by the U.S. General Services Administration, Data.gov provides over 200,000 data sets on a variety of topics, including nearly 500 data sets on U.S. education.
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES)
Provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the NCSES provides easy access to a large body of statistical data resources for science and engineering (S&E) at U.S. academic institutions, as well as information on non-S&E fields and higher education in general.
Data USA provides a comprehensive repository of U.S. public data, including information on higher education institutions. In addition, Data USA provides visualization tools and an API to enable access and analysis of the provided data.
Higher Education Price Index (HEPI)
The Higher Education Price Index, distributed by the Commonfund, is an inflation index designed specifically to track the main cost drivers in higher education.
National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
NACUBO provides access to data that supports annual research including the Study of Endowment and the Tuition Discounting Study.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
The NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is the home of several sources of data on national post-secondary institutions.
- Condition of Education The Condition of Education is a congressionally mandated annual report from NCES. The report contains key indicators on the condition of education in the United States at all levels, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons
- Digest of Education Statistics The Digest contains information on a variety of subjects in the field of education statistics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, federal funds for education, libraries, and international education.
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) IPEDS data are submitted at the aggregated-level from post-secondary institutions, as mandated by the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Institutions submit data through 12 interrelated survey components about general higher education topics, providing one of the most comprehensive data tools for higher education researcher.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Another resource available from the NSF is the data resources collected through the Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD), which is the primary source of information on R&D expenditures at U.S. colleges and universities
National Student Clearinghouse (NSC)
The Research Center of the NSC publishes data and research on student enrollment, mobility, and other outcomes derived from their data collection process through an extensive network of U.S. post-secondary institutions.
Student Achievement Measure (SAM)
SAM tracks student movement across post-secondary institutions to provide a more complete picture of undergraduate student progress and completion within the higher education system
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
For 40 years, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) has produced Knocking at the College Door, which includes projections of high school graduates.