Data Sources
Sites that provide data for analysis of college outcomes. Often these are the data sources used by many of the college guides. So if you can’t search by a particular data category in a college directory, you might try some of these sources.
College Results Online: Easy to use system for selecting colleges based on graduation rates, size, transfers, percentage of minority students, student expenditures, percentage of part-time students, and percentage of students over the age 25.
Value for researching liberal arts colleges: it’s very easy to download the data which allows you to search by other criterion such as general subject areas with the most majors.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS): This is the dataset that provides the basis for virtually all comprehensive college directories. When use the Department of Education’s College Navigator, you’re accessing IPEDS data. Yet you can not select colleges in College Navigator based on retention rates, graduation rates, on campus criminal offenses, or percentage of students receiving financial aid. You have to use the IPEDS Data Cutting Tool to download data to allow you to sort on any of the variables you choose. Unfortunately, this is not a simple and straight forward process.
Value for researching liberal arts colleges: search for specific values rather than using the limited ranges offered (if at all) by many directories.
WebCASPAR: The WebCASPAR database provides easy access to a large body of statistical data resources for science and engineering (S&E) at U.S. academic institutions. WebCASPAR emphasizes S&E, but its data resources also provide information on non-S&E fields and higher education in general.
Value for researching liberal arts colleges: Look for schools producing PhDs by subject area.
