Get More from NCAN’s Affordability Data with Our Interactive Dashboard

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Today, NCAN released the latest edition of our “Growing Gap” research on the affordability of two- and four-year public institutions nationwide. The news is grim, unfortunately. The percentage of affordable institutions is declining while affordability gaps are widening.

Along with my colleague Raymond AlQaisi’s excellent write-up, we’ve updated the interactive online dashboard  that first launched with last year’s report.

The dashboard contains a bevy of useful data, but it might be helpful to get some ideas of how to explore all it has to offer. With that in mind, here are a few tips.

Examine trends by state.

Our write-up focuses on national-level trends, but it’s important to drill down into trends by state. Do that by clicking on any of the green hexagons in the first map. That will filter the entire dashboard by that state. Want to revert back? Click the same hexagon again or refresh the page.

Look up individual institutions.

Near the bottom of the dashboard is a table of individual colleges and universities. The table breaks down each component of the institution’s affordability according to NCAN’s formula.

Consider the trendline.

The benefit of looking at five years of data is we can see trends across and within institutions and states. Consider neighboring states’ trendlines, too. Which policies or practices are they implementing that are affecting their postsecondary affordability?

When in doubt, reach out.

There’s a lot of data in the dashboard, but if you see an analysis that would be useful to you, or if you don’t see an institution there that you think you should be (we rely on data from IPEDS – if it’s missing, we can’t report on the school), then reach out to Bill DeBaun at debaunb@ncan.org or Raymond AlQaisi at raymond@ncan.org.

These data are valuable for postsecondary advising (in informing students and families about affordable options) and for advocacy (in encouraging policymakers to address affordability). Hopefully the "Growing Gap" dashboard is a tool that will help NCAN members advance both of those aims.

📊 Explore the 'Growing Gap' Dashboard

Read More:

• College Affordability Gap Grows for Students from Low-Income Backgrounds
• NCAN's College Affordability page (a deeper dive into the "Growing Gap" data)
• NCAN policy page: Strengthen Pell Grants
• Letter to Congress from nearly 1,200 organizations advocating for double Pell
• TIME magazine cover story: “Applying to College Was Never Easy for Most Students. The Pandemic Made It Nearly Impossible”