Higher Ed Data Stories

Note: The visualizations are not optimized for mobile.  A desktop is recommended for best viewing. From the annual College Board Trends in College Pricing comes some interesting data, which I've combined into one database for visualization, focusing on public university tuition for residents and non-residents.  This looks complex, but it's pretty simple. The opening view shows six charts: 2015 tuition for residents; for non-residents; and the premium a non-resident pays (in sticker price) across the top.  On bottom are three scatters: Resident tuition as a function of state funding per FTE student; five-year, inflation adjusted tuition for residents and not residents; and funding per $1000 of personal income and resident tuition.  Of these, I think the middle is the most compelling: Note the states that have raised tuition faster for residents than for non-residents. The chart starts with US Averages in red, against the states as gray.  Use the control in...

Note: Visualizations are not mobile friendly.  I recommend a laptop or desktop for viewing this site. Someone asked me today about what I thought higher education's biggest challenge was, and I said college costs without thinking.  And a few hours later, I still think that, with a twist: College costs for low-income students, especially at public institutions who presumably have a primary mission of educating students of all income levels in their state. To be sure, costs are too high at private institutions, and many of the trends you'll see here are carried over and amplified in the private sector; but private colleges and universities may exist for different reasons, and that can be hard to capture in a visualization like this. There are two views here, using the tabs across the top.  The first is a scattergram, arraying almost all 660 US, four-year public colleges and universities that admit freshmen (a few are missing data).  The x-axis shows in-state tui...