Fall 2014 IPEDS Data: New Profile of US Higher Ed Online Education

The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) and its Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) provide the most official data on colleges and universities in the United States. I have been analyzing and sharing the data in the initial Fall 2012 dataset and for the Fall 2013 dataset. Both WCET and the Babson Survey Research Group also provide analysis of the IPEDS data for distance education. I highly recommend the following analysis in addition to the profile below (we have all worked together behind the scenes to share data and analyses).

• WCET’s initial analysis of Fall 2014 data
• WCET’s comparison of Fall 2014 to past years
• BSRG’s annual report on distance education using Fall 2014 data
• WCET’s update on the data quality issues with IPEDS data

Below is a profile of online education in the US for degree-granting colleges and university, broken out by sector and for each state.

Please note the following:

• For the most part distance education and online education terms are interchangeable, but they are not equivalent as DE can include courses delivered by a medium other than the Internet (e.g. correspondence course).
• I have provided some flat images as well as an interactive graphic at the bottom of the post. The interactive graphic has much better image resolution than the flat images.
• There are three tabs below in the interactive graphic – the first shows totals for the US by sector and by level (grad, undergrad); the second also shows the data for each state; the third shows a map view.
• Yes, I know I’m late this year in getting to the data.

If you select the middle tab, you can view the same data for any selected state. As an example, here is data for Virginia in table form.

There is also a map view of state data colored by number of, and percentage of, students taking at least one online class for each sector. If you hover over any state you can get the basic data. As an example, here is a view highlighting Virginia private 4-year institutions.

Interactive Graphic

For those of you who have made it this far, here is the interactive graphic. Enjoy the data.