Chapter 2: Aligning Questions and Data: Using IPEDS Data to Analyze Higher Education Finance and Costs

The effective and efficient use of resources in higher education is front and center in education policy discussions. Institutional officials increasingly grapple with decisions about how to best invest scarce resources to improve student experiences across a broad range of outcomes, and in many cases, institutions are rethinking their business models and taking a more strategic approach to connecting financial practices with institutional change (Massey, 2016). At the same time, policy makers and the public demand comprehensive and comparable information about institutions’ performance on key measures, including cost, price, quality of services and experiences, and student outcomes (Chingos & Whitehurst, 2015). Before them are difficult decisions about how to allocate funding and student financial aid, as well as the responsibility for holding institutions accountable for public and private investments. Researchers require valid, reliable, and timely information to rigorously evaluate postsecondary policies, programs, and service delivery systems (Bell, 2015; Wisconsin Hope Lab, 2015).