IQP: Craig Wills: Comparing Metrics for American Universities

Sandoval-Williams, Chayanne

Student Work

IQP: Craig Wills: Comparing Metrics for American Universities

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Every year millions of American high school students graduate and go further in their education, pursuing college. The decision of where to go is a big decision that impacts both students and the universities that they go to. The goal of this project is to track the movement of college students throughout the country. By analyzing data collected from the National Center of Educational Statistics, we were able to see the residential status of students both on a state and institutional level. Using that data, we were able to determine the influence of colleges and the movement of students from state-to-state. A few key findings show that Alaska, Texas, New Jersey, and California all have the most students that stay in-state while DC has the least. When adjoining states are factored in, Alaska, which has none, still has a large number of students from their immediate region that go to Alaska colleges. Massachusetts pulls the most non-domestic students. Out of all the university groups, the major public universities attract the most students from outside their immediate region and also the United States. In order to better understand the findings of our data, we created a survey to determine the influence of location in the college decision process. Key findings from the survey show that those who made their decision during the pandemic found relative distance more important than the other year groups. In addition those who stayed in state found absolute and relative distance more important than any other residential group.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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