There were approximately 18.58 million college students in the U.S. in 2022, with around 13.49 million enrolled in public colleges and a further 5.09 million students enrolled in private colleges. The figures are projected to remain relatively constant over the next few years.

What is the most expensive college in the U.S.? The overall number of higher education institutions in the U.S. totals around 4,000, and California is the state with the most. One important factor that students – and their parents – must consider before choosing a college is cost. With annual expenses totaling almost 78,000 U.S. dollars, Harvey Mudd College in California was the most expensive college for the 2021-2022 academic year. There are three major costs of college: tuition, room, and board. The difference in on-campus and off-campus accommodation costs is often negligible, but they can change greatly depending on the college town.

The differences between public and private colleges Public colleges, also called state colleges, are mostly funded by state governments. Private colleges, on the other hand, are not funded by the government but by private donors and endowments. Typically, private institutions are  much more expensive. Public colleges tend to offer different tuition fees for students based on whether they live in-state or out-of-state, while private colleges have the same tuition cost for every student.

It's no secret that US university students often graduate with debt repayment obligations that far outstrip their employment and income prospects. While it's understood that students from elite colleges tend to earn more than graduates from less prestigious universities, the finer relationships between future income and university attendance are quite murky. In an effort to make educational investments less speculative, the US Department of Education has matched information from the student financial aid system with federal tax returns to create the College Scorecard dataset.

Kaggle is hosting the College Scorecard dataset in order to facilitate shared learning and collaboration. Insights from this dataset can help make the returns on higher education more transparent and, in turn, more fair.

Data Description

Here's a script showing an exploratory overview of some of the data.

college-scorecard-release-*.zip contains a compressed version of the same data available through Kaggle Scripts.

It consists of three components:

• All the raw data files released in version 1.40 of the college scorecard data
• Scorecard.csv, a single CSV file with all the years data combined. In it, we've converted categorical variables represented by integer keys in the original data to their labels and added a Year column
• database.sqlite, a SQLite database containing a single Scorecard table that contains the same information as Scorecard.csv

New to data exploration in R? Take the free, interactive DataCamp course, "Data Exploration With Kaggle Scripts," to learn the basics of visualizing data with ggplot. You'll also create your first Kaggle Scripts along the way.

This dataset contains the total annual FTE and unduplicated headcount enrollment for undergraduate and graduate students at public community colleges and state universities in Massachusetts since 2014.

This dataset is 1 of 2 datasets that is also published in the interactive Annual Enrollment dashboard on the Department of Higher Education Data Center:

Public Postsecondary Annual Enrollment Public Postsecondary Annual Enrollment by Race and Gender

Related datasets: Public Postsecondary Fall Enrollment Public Postsecondary Fall Enrollment by Race and Gender

Notes: - Data appear as reported to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. - Annual enrollment refers to a 12 month enrollment period over one fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). - Figures published by DHE may differ slightly from figures published by other institutions and organizations due to differences in timing of publication, data definitions, and calculation logic. - Data for the University of Massachusetts are not included due to unique reporting requirements. See Fall Enrollment for HEIRS data on UMass enrollment. -The most common measure of enrollment is headcount of enrolled students. Annual headcount enrollment is unduplicated, meaning any individual student is only counted once per institution and fiscal year, even if they are enrolled in multiple terms. Enrollment can also be measured as full-time equivalent (FTE) students, a calculation based on the sum of credits carried by all enrolled students. In a fiscal year, 30 undergraduate credits = 1 undergraduate FTE, and 24 graduate credits = 1 graduate FTE at a state university.

This dataset contains the total annual unduplicated enrollment headcount and percentages by race and gender for undergraduate and graduate students at public community colleges and state universities in Massachusetts since 2014.

This dataset is 1 of 2 datasets that is also published in the interactive Annual Enrollment dashboard on the Department of Higher Education Data Center:

Public Postsecondary Annual Enrollment Public Postsecondary Annual Enrollment by Race and Gender

Related datasets: Public Postsecondary Fall Enrollment Public Postsecondary Fall Enrollment by Race and Gender

Notes: - Data appear as reported to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. - Annual enrollment refers to a 12 month enrollment period over one fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). - Figures published by DHE may differ slightly from figures published by other institutions and organizations due to differences in timing of publication, data definitions, and calculation logic. - Data for the University of Massachusetts are not included due to unique reporting requirements. See Fall Enrollment for HEIRS data on UMass enrollment. -The most common measure of enrollment is headcount of enrolled students. Annual headcount enrollment is unduplicated, meaning any individual student is only counted once per institution and fiscal year, even if they are enrolled in multiple terms. Enrollment can also be measured as full-time equivalent (FTE) students, a calculation based on the sum of credits carried by all enrolled students. In a fiscal year, 30 undergraduate credits = 1 undergraduate FTE, and 24 graduate credits = 1 graduate FTE at a state university.

National Universities Rankings

Analyze 1,800 U.S. Universities and their Academic Performance

By Education [source]

About this dataset

Welcome to the U.S. News & World Report's 2017 National Universities Rankings, a comprehensive dataset of over 1,800 schools across the United States providing quality data on admissions criteria, cost of tuition and fees, enrollment numbers, and overall rankings! Here you'll find up-to-date information on institutes of higher learning from Princeton University at the top spot in Best National Universities to Williams College at No. 1 on the Best National Liberal Arts Colleges list.

This collection of data is all that's needed for potential students - parents, counselors and more - to evaluate their choices in selecting a college or university that perfectly meets their needs. For instance: what is the total tuition & fees cost? What are student enrollment numbers? How have students rated this school? Which universities have been recognized as top institutions in academics by U.S. News & World Report? What admissions criteria do these schools evaluate when considering an applicant's profile? The answers lie within this dataset!

Explore each category separately as well as with other considerations through visuals like our scatter plot to get an inside look into collegiate education from enrollment patterns charted against yearly expenses including room & board charges without forgetting several crucial factors such as six-year graduation rates and freshman retention rates measured among nations' universities included here -allowing for comparison and assessment beforehand for a well-rounded experience such that you can find your own path ahead!

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How to use the dataset

This dataset contains information on the quality, tuition, and enrollment data of 1,800 U.S.-based universities ranked by U.S. News & World Report from 2017. It includes rankings from the National University and Liberal Arts College lists in addition to relevant data points like tuition fees and undergraduate enrollments for each school.

Users can take advantage of this dataset to build models that predict ranking or predicting cost-benefit results for students by using cost-related (tuition) metrics along with quality metrics (rankings). Alternatively users can use it to analyze trends between investments in higher education versus outcomes (ranking), or explore the relationship between enrollments for schools of varying rank tiers, etc...

For more information on how rankings are calculated please refer to this methodology explainer on U.S news website

Here is an overview of all columns included in this dataset:

Columns:Name - institution name,Location - City and state where located,Rank - Ranking according to U.S News & World Report ,Description - Snippet of text overview from U.S News ,Tuition and fees – Combined tuition and fees for out–of–state students ,In–state – Tuition and fees for in–state students ,Undergraduate Enrollment – Number of enrolled undergraduate students .

Using this column detail as a guide we can answer questions like ‘which colleges give highest ROI ?’ or ‘Which college has highest number undergraduates?’ . For statistical analysis such as correlation we may use a visual representation such as a scatter plots or bar graphs accordingly making it easier analyses trends found within our dataset ans well as exploring any relationships between different factors such us tuitions vs ranks

Research Ideas

• Developing a searchable database to help high school students identify colleges that match their criteria in terms of tuition, graduation rate, location, and rank.
• Identifying correlations between enrollment numbers and university rank in order to better understand how the number of enrolled students effects the overall ranking of a university.
• Comparing universities with similar rankings in order to highlight differences between programs’ tuition and fees as well as retention rates

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit the original authors. Data Source

License

License: Dataset copyright by authors - You are free to: - Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. - Adapt - remix, ...

Data from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities' College Enrolment Statistical Reporting system. Provides aggregated key enrolment data for college students, such as: * Fall term headcount enrolment by campus, credential pursued and level of study * Fall term headcount enrolment by program and Classification of Instructional Program * Fall term headcount enrolment by student status in Canada and country of citizenship by institution * Fall term headcount enrolment by student demographics (e.g., gender, age, first language) To protect privacy, numbers are suppressed in categories with less than 10 students. ## Related * College enrolments - 1996 to 2011 * University enrolment * Enrolment by grade in secondary schools * School enrolment by gender * Second language course enrolment * Course enrolment in secondary schools * Enrolment by grade in elementary schools

University and college enrollment measures the total fall enrollment at the University of Illinois and Parkland College. Spring enrollment figures are not included in this indicator.

Enrollment at the University of Illinois has seen a steadily increasing trend since 2000, with a slight drop between 2006 and 2007, and again between 2022 and 2023. Enrollment at Parkland College has had less of a consistent trend, fluctuating between 2000 and 2011. Parkland College enrollment saw a sharp increase between 2011 and 2012, and decreased between 2012 and 2022. Parkland College enrollment increased in 2023 and 2024.

The University of Illinois and Parkland College are both important parts of the Champaign-Urbana community. Enrollment is an intuitive measure of an institution’s growth. Enrollment cannot paint a complete picture of any institution, but it is a solid starting point.

This data came from enrollment reports posted on the University of Illinois and Parkland College websites.

Sources: Parkland College. Website. Table A1: Annual Enrollment Data. FY 00 - FY 24. (Retrieved 5 December 2024).; Division of Management Information. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Website. UIUC Student Enrollment. Years 2000-2024. (Retrieved 5 December 2024).

Analysis of ‘Where it Pays to Attend College’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/wsj/college-salaries on 20 November 2021.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

Salary Increase By Type of College

Party school? Liberal Arts college? State School? You already know your starting salary will be different depending on what type of school you attend. But, increased earning power shows less disparity. Ten years out, graduates of Ivy League schools earned 99% more than they did at graduation. Party school graduates saw an 85% increase. Engineering school graduates fared worst, earning 76% more 10 years out of school. See where your school ranks.

Salaries By Region

Attending college in the Midwest leads to the lowest salary both at graduation and at mid-career, according to the PayScale Inc. survey. Graduates of schools in the Northeast and California fared best.

Salary Increase By Major

Your parents might have worried when you chose Philosophy or International Relations as a major. But a year-long survey of 1.2 million people with only a bachelor's degree by PayScale Inc. shows that graduates in these subjects earned 103.5% and 97.8% more, respectively, about 10 years post-commencement. Majors that didn't show as much salary growth include Nursing and Information Technology.

All data was obtained from the Wall Street Journal based on data from Payscale, Inc:

• Salaries for Colleges by Type
• Salaries for Colleges by Region
• Degrees that Pay you Back

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

This dataset contains the total Fall enrollment headcount and FTE for undergraduate and graduate students at all public Massachusetts institutions of higher education since 2014.

This dataset is 1 of 2 datasets that is also published in the interactive Fall Enrollment dashboard on the Department of Higher Education Data Center:

Public Postsecondary Fall Enrollment Public Postsecondary Fall Enrollment by Race and Gender

Related datasets: Public Postsecondary Annual Enrollment Public Postsecondary Annual Enrollment by Race and Gender

Notes: - Data appear as reported to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. - Figures published here may vary from those of individual institutions due to differences in calculation methodologies.

This dataset provides information for Academic Years 2017-2021 which included: By College and VCCS System:

1) Annual Headcount and FTEs 2) Gender (categories are: Female & Male; Unknown may be inferred) 3) Ethnicity (categories are: American Indian & Alaskan Native, Asian, Black & African-American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Two or More Races, Unknown/Not Specified, and White) 4) Age (categories are: 17 and Under, 18-19, 20-21, 22-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-49, 50-64, & 65 and Over) 5) 18-Month Outcomes for Dual-Enrolled High School Grads by Year (categories are: Total Grads, Continued in any Higher Ed program, Employed with no Higher Ed, and Unknown) 6) 18-Month Outcomes for VCCS Graduates by Year (categories are: Total Grads, Continued at VCCS, Transferred to a 4yr college, Employed with no Higher Ed, and Unknown)

For Fiscal Years 2018-2021, by Service Area and VCCS System:

1) Fast Forward Credentialers Employed by Fiscal Year (categories are: Total Distinct Students, Employed within 6 Months, Employed within 12 Months, and Employed within 18 Months)

Notes:

1) Headcounts are Unduplicated student counts. 2) One FTE represents 30 credit hours of classes taken by a student over an academic year and is calculated on an annual basis by taking the total credit hours taught divided by 30. 3) 2017 Fiscal Year Fast Forward data was not included as it was considered incomplete- the Fast Forward program began in 2017 and did not encompass all areas for the entire year.
4) In Workforce (Fast Forward data) the service region for the Richmond Metro Area is called CCWA (Community College Workforce Alliance) and combines data for Brightpoint and J Sargeant Reynolds. 4a) Therefore, there are no Reynolds data entries for Fast Forward variables. All CCWA data is listed under Brightpoint for this portion of the data set.
5) 18-Month Outcomes for Fast Forward Credentialers are cumulative (6 months to 12 months to 18 months)

This dataset provides comprehensive information about various Data Science and Analytics master's programs offered in the United States. It includes details such as the program name, university name, annual tuition fees, program duration, location of the university, and additional information about the programs.

Column Descriptions:

• Subject Name: The name or field of study of the master's program, such as Data Science, Data Analytics, or Applied Biostatistics.

• University Name: The name of the university offering the master's program.

• Per Year Fees: The tuition fees for the program, usually given in euros per year. For some programs, the fees may be listed as "full" or "full-time," indicating a lump sum for the entire program or for full-time enrollment, respectively.

• About Program: A brief description or overview of the master's program, providing insights into its curriculum, focus areas, and any unique features.

• Program Duration: The duration of the master's program, typically expressed in years or months.

• University Location: The location of the university where the program is offered, including the city and state.

• Program Name: The official name of the master's program, often indicating its degree type (e.g., M.Sc. for Master of Science) and format (e.g., full-time, part-time, online).

India Number of Students: Colleges data was reported at 26,552,301.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 26,388,693.000 Person for 2016. India Number of Students: Colleges data is updated yearly, averaging 23,470,323.500 Person from Sep 2010 (Median) to 2017, with 8 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 26,552,301.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 11,551,516.000 Person in 2010. India Number of Students: Colleges data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Department of Higher Education. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Education Sector – Table IN.EDD005: Number of Students: Colleges.

Postsecondary enrolments, by detailed field of study, institution, institution type, registration status, program type, credential type, status of student in Canada and gender.

Dataset from Singapore Department of Statistics. For more information, visit https://data.gov.sg/datasets/d_f5db67df93abf6d78346c5ef83a4ca25/view

This dataset contains data on credits registered and earned by students in designated Early College programs since school year 2021-22. Early College is a program that designates partnerships between high schools and colleges to support high school students to complete college courses. The list of designated partnerships is available here.

Students are counted in this dataset if they are marked as an Early College student by the district. Credits are counted in this dataset if they are submitted to DHE. The credits are counted based on where they are taken, even if that is an institution of higher ed (IHE) outside of the student's designated Early College partnership. Credits from Fall and Spring semester are counted; summer credits are not counted. Data includes any credits at public IHEs (Wentworth Institute of Technology data have not been submitted as of July 2024), and '22-23 data from private IHEs that are part of an Early College designated partnership.

The dataset is updated in the fall of each year to add in the previous year's credits. Credit counts are suppressed (hidden) for groups in which there are fewer than 6 students to protect student privacy, though those credits are still counted in totals.

The data here are the same as the credit data in the Early College Dashboard.

Participation rate in education, population aged 18 to 34, by age group and type of institution attended, Canada, provinces and territories. This table is included in Section E: Transitions and outcomes: Transitions to postsecondary education of the Pan Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP). PCEIP draws from a wide variety of data sources to provide information on the school-age population, elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, transitions, and labour market outcomes. The program presents indicators for all of Canada, the provinces, the territories, as well as selected international comparisons and comparisons over time. PCEIP is an ongoing initiative of the Canadian Education Statistics Council, a partnership between Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada that provides a set of statistical measures on education systems in Canada.

This dataset explores residence and migration of all freshmen students in 4-year degree-granting institutions who graduated from high school in the previous 12 months, by state for Fall 2004 NOTE: Includes all first-time postsecondary students enrolled at reporting institutions. Degree-granting institutions grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2005. (This table was prepared September 2005.) http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d06/tables/dt06_209.asp Accessed on 11 November 2007

Maryland has 200+ higher education facilities located throughout the entire State. Maryland boasts a highly educated workforce with 300,000+ graduates from higher education institutions every year. Higher education opportunities range from two year, public and private institutions, four year, public and private institutions and regional education centers. Collectively, Maryland's higher education facilities offer every kind of educational experience, whether for the traditional college students or for students who have already begun a career and are working to learn new skills. Maryland is proud that nearly one-third of its residents 25 and older have a bachelor's degree or higher, ranking in the top 5 amongst all states. Maryland's economic diversity and educational vitality is what makes it one of the best states in the nation in which to live, learn, work and raise a family.

This dataset provides information about 2007 Endowment figures across Colleges and Universities in the World (mainly in the United States). The Study was conducted by NACUBO. Results are also listed for 2006 and percentage change has also been listed between the two years. Locations are mapped by the lat/lon coordinates of the institution. More information on the study can be found at http://www.nacubo.org/ The National Endowment Study is the largest and longest running annual survey studying the endowment holdings of higher education institutions and their foundations. Information is collected and calculated on behalf of NACUBO by TIAA-CREF. Seven hundred and eighty-five (785) institutions in the United States and Canada participated in the 2007 NES, which is the largest number in the 35-year history of the study and the seventh consecutive year of record-breaking participation since NACUBO began its partnership with TIAA-CREF in 2000. NACUBO, (National Association of College and University Business Officers) founded in 1962, is a nonprofit professional organization representing chief administrative and financial officers at more than 2,100 colleges and universities across the country. NACUBOs mission is to promote sound management and financial practices at colleges and universities. Data was accessed on 1/23/2008 http://www.nacubo.org/Images/All%20Institutions%20Listed%20by%20FY%202007%20Market%20Value%20of%20Endowment%20Assets_2007%20NES.pdf

See notice below about this dataset

This dataset provides the number of graduates who enrolled in each type of postsecondary education per district.

Wage records are obtained from the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) using a secure, anonymized matching process with limitations. For details on the process and suppression rules, please visit the Employment and Earnings of High School Graduates dashboard.

This dataset is one of three containing the same data that is also published in the Employment and Earnings of High School Graduates dashboard: Average Earnings by Student Group Average Earnings by Industry College and Career Outcomes

List of Outcomes

• Total Postsecondary Enrollment
• In-State Public 2-Year
• In-State Public 4-Year
• In-State Private
• Out-of-State
• Total Employed
• Total Missing

The data link between high school graduates and future earnings makes it possible to follow students beyond high school and college into the workforce, enabling long-term evaluation of educational programs using workforce outcomes.

While DESE has published these data in the past, as of June 2025 we are temporarily pausing updates due to an issue conducting the link that was brought to our attention in 2023 by a team of researchers. The issue impacts the earnings information for students who never attended a postsecondary institution or who only attended private or out-of-state colleges or universities, beginning with the 2017 high school graduation cohort, with growing impact in each successive high school graduation cohort.

The issue does not impact the earnings information for students who attended a Massachusetts public institution of higher education, and earnings data for those students will continue to be updated.

Once a solution is found, the past cohorts of data with low match rates will be updated. DESE and partner agencies are exploring linking strategies to maximize the utility of the information.

More detailed information can be found in the attached memo provided by the research team from the Annenberg Institute. We thank them for calling this issue to our attention.