Learning to Love Data Dictionary
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/
All 1,826 columns explained here.
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdf
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/CollegeScorecardDataDictionary.xlsx
Group Assignment: Examine The Data Dictionary. Sketch out the broad categories describing the data. Hint: There’s a section on demographics – race, ethnicity.
Consult this article for ideas about the types of data you can examine
http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2016/09/the-changing-role-of-the-community-college-and-for-profit-college-borrowers.html
Questions:
What are the broad groupings?
What questions do you want to answer with this data and which data fields should we look at next?
Compose your thoughts at the bottom of this Google Doc:
Student Loan Data
Private vs. Public Colleges: How Does The Debt Load Differ?
Return of the Data Dictionary: Student Loan Dataset
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/
All 1,826 columns explained here.
1) Find the field that distinguishes between public and private colleges:
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdf
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/CollegeScorecardDataDictionary.xlsx
2) Build a new spreadsheet from this raw data: AR2016ALL-1jwseiw
Name your new sheet ARDebt9_19
It will have these fields:
A) The private / public colleges field
B) Latitude and Longitude
C) The 8 data fields we have used so far in ARDebt.
D) A data dictionary
3) Make Charts in Tableau
Import ARDebt9_19 into Tableau.
Create a chart of the overall median debt, median private, median public college debt.
Create another one, public, private for graduates and discontinued students.
Revel in your nerd powers
Add Context
Context
Overall averages, medians for particular topics.
What is the median student loan debt in 2016?
What is the median student loan debt for for-profit colleges in 2016?
What is the average default rate?
Context #1
Add the Quick Facts for city population, demographics.
Little Rock: African American comprise 42 percent of Little Rock’s population. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/littlerockcityarkansas,US/PST045217
Add typical salary from Occupational Employment Statistics database for Arkansas
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_ar.htm
Data Adventure
Data Adventure
FY 2015 national cohort default rate is 10.8%, down from 11.5% in the previous year.
By comparison, Arkansas’ cohort default rates dropped from 12.2% to 11.2%, inching closer to the national average. Five years ago, when ASLA initiated efforts to lower the state’s default rate, Arkansas ranked near the bottom of all 50 states at 49th. During that period, Arkansas’ default rate had declined from 19% in 2010 to the more manageable 12.2% in 2014.
Arkansas’ 351,000 student loan borrowers carried more than $10.8 billion in debt at the end of 2017
According to USDE data, Arkansas’ 351,000 college tuition borrowers carried average of $26,799 in student loan debt per student, slightly less that the $27,857 average balanced held by the other 43.6 million Americans that are still paying for college.
By far, college-goers attending the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville received the largest portion of federal student loan proceeds in the 2017-2018 academic years, when $107.6 million was handed out to enrollees at the state’s largest university
Arkansas State University in Jonesboro received the second-largest share of federal student loans at nearly $91.9 million in the 2017-2018 academic year.
Question: Where would we find these numbers in our current dataset?
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/FullDataDocumentation.pdf
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/CollegeScorecardDataDictionary.xlsx
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”New Data – or Is It?” _builder_version=”3.0.101″ background_layout=”light”]
New Data – or Is It?
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/changelog/
Fine Print:
1 NSLDS -derived data elements will also be updated in the fall of 2018
More Student Loan Data
Dept of Ed Release
https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/national-student-loan-cohort-default-rate-falls
Instructions in Default Rates
https://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/defaultmanagement/instructions.html
Title IV Data
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/student/title-iv
College InSight – Detailed Debt Data
http://college-insight.org/#explore/go&h=6d38087e46818e79ac32f5fab17eea08
Details on Student Loan Delinquencies by Type of Loan
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/student/portfolio
Federal Student Loan Portfolio: The office of Federal Student Aid is responsible for directly managing or overseeing an outstanding federal student loan portfolio comprised of billions of dollars in Title IV loans and representing millions of borrowers. This federal student loan portfolio includes Direct Loans, Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL), and Perkins Loans with outstanding balances. The reports below provide information about the federal student loan portfolio.
Total disbursements by institution
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/fsawg/datacenter/library/DL_Dashboard_AY2017_2018_Q3.xls
PowerStats Tool
The National Center for Education Statistics has a PowerStats tool that requires registration. I got a password in a minute.
https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/powerstats/default.aspx
Once you log in, you can build your own tables with the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: 2016 Undergraduates.
Portfolio-by-Location-by-Debt-Size
DL-by-Delinquency-Location
Portfolio-by-Location-by-Age***
Portfolio-by-Location
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/fsawg/datacenter/library/Portfolio-by-Location-by-Age.xls
Data Updates
From Fall 2018
All — CollegeScorecard has put out updated data that requires us to update our data visualizations. Many of the charts were built with Sept. 26 data. There is an Oct. 30 dataset that makes enough changes on default rates, debt and other metrics that we should use it. These differences became apparent in the editing process. Everyone used College Scorecard data so we all have to deal with the update.
Second, anyone using Debt_Mdn should be using GRAD_DEBT_MDN instead in their charts. The reason? Debt_Mdn is artificially reducing the scale of the student loan debt.
Debt_Mdn is aggregated by institution.
GRAD_DEBT_MDN is aggregated by individuals. So someone who transferred from Hendrix to UofA would have that Hendrix debt factored in when they graduate from UofA.
Below is a video on how to update your CollegeScorecard visualizations in Tableau.
Here are the basic steps:
1) Create a new Tableau workbook and import the Oct30 data. It is here:ARDebt10-30-18
2) Open your existing Tableau workbook that used the Sept 26 data. Select the visualization, select its tab, left click and copy
3) Move to the new Tableau workbook with the Oct30 data. Select a blank worksheet. Left click and paste
Your visualization has now been pasted with the Sept. 30 data
4) On the Tableau toolbar, Select Data | Replace Data Source. It will say existing source is Sept 26. Select Oct 30 data as replacement
5) BOOM. You are done.
Things that can go wrong:
–Ensure your data that you want to chart is listed in the measures pane. Grad_Debt_Mdn or CDR3 may need to be converted to measures for this to work properly.