Excel Sheet: Arkansas data

Catherine Shackelford

Data Journalism

August 27, 2017

Homework 2 Questions

1)How much would an in-state student expect to pay in total tuition, room and board for the 2016-2017 school year? How has that changed in the last year on a percentage change basis?

An in-state student at Arkansas will pay $24,302. This is a 3.39% increase. An in-state student at Missouri will pay $25, 916. This is a 7.17% increase.

It’s a lower percentage change and in-state tuition fee at Arkansas. Missouri’s in-state expenses are higher by about $1600, and the percent change is more than double of Arkansas’s percent change.

2)How much would an out-of-state student expect to pay in total tuition, room and board for the 2016-2017 school year? How has that changed in the last year on a percentage change basis? How does that differ from in-state students?

An out-of-state student at Arkansas will pay $38, 650. This is a 5% increase. Out-of-state students are paying around $14,000 more than in-state students. An out-of-state student at Missouri will pay $42, 290. This is a 6.15% increase. Out-of-state students are paying around $17,000 more than in-state students. It’s more expensive to go to Missouri as an out-of-state student than it is at Arkansas.

4) Which category increased the most from the 2016-2017 school years? Raw change? Percent change?

Arkansas: Out-of-state tuition increased the most from 2016-17, with a 6.15% increase ($1,342 in raw change).

Missouri: “Other on campus” increased the most from 2016-17, with a 27.1% increase ($1,014 in raw change). 

Largest percent change: Missouri’s “other on campus.” Largest raw change: Arkansas’s out-of-state tuition.

5) Write a lead for a story based on your analysis.

The University of Arkansas’s out-of-state tuition reaches an all-time high, increasing by 21 percent over the past four years. (**NICE LEAD**)

6) What other information and/or sources would help you finish this story?

Why the tuition is increasing, the Admissions Office, prospective students from out-of-state, data from previous years, scholarship information/statistics for out-of-state students.