Don Gray

If you work in the Admissions or Financial Aid office of your institution you’ve probably heard a hundred different students say, “If you could just find a way to give me a couple thousand extra dollars in scholarships, then I’d enroll.” Or perhaps something like this, “University X is offering me $16,000 in grants and you’re only offering me $15,000? Isn’t there anything you can do to match their offer?” Students and their families have become savvy consumers. Some are facing financial hardships, others are just looking to get the best deal possible, and most aren’t afraid to ask for more money. The big questions for college administrators are, “Should we offer these students a little more money?” “Will it increase …Read more

Have you ever been responsible for cleaning up a big mess? I’m talking about a mess so big that you don’t even know where to begin. Maybe some of your attics, garages, or basements fit that description. I know my garage does for certain: tools piling up all over the place, boxes full of various things, rakes, shovels, a chipper/shredder, and a wheelbarrow round out the mess. Most of the items in my garage are actually useful for my home improvements projects; however in their current state of disorganization, it’s a challenge to find the item I need in a timely manner. Looking at my messy garage or maybe your messy attic we can all have a bit of a laugh; when it comes to your data at work though, no one is laughing. So what do you do…Read more

I’ve spent the past six and a half years analyzing higher education data for more than sixty institutions, from large public universities to small private liberal arts colleges. The most common data challenge I find is institutions deleting data on students who were admitted, but ultimately decided not to enroll. I’ve found many institutions do well at recording any data they can get their hands on, but then preserve only the data for enrolled students. One common example is need-based aid, which often gets cancelled, without being archived, for non-enrolled students. In the aggregate, your final enrollment, discount rate, diversity and SAT/ACT numbers don’t tell the whole story. It’s often important to dig deeper, analyzing result…Read more