· Paper #1 will be a Fact Sheet (2-5 double spaced pages) on a higher education institution selected by the student where the student has had no past or present relationship.
Key Information to include (just recommendations, no need to include everything):
1. How does the institution operate? Private, public, for-profit? Who governs the institution?
2. Cost to attend. Include in-state vs out-of-state tuition. What percentage of students receive financial aid?
3. Include a brief description of CEO (years in position, former positions, accomplishments, focus, etc).
4. Enrollment. Include FTE enrollment if possible. What is the enrollment trend over the last few years? Provide demographic info about enrollment (number of online vs face-to-face, graduate vs undergraduate,male/female, PELL eligible, racial/cultural stats, geographical info, etc. Average age of students can also be an interesting piece of info.
5. Most popular program/major.
6. Freshmen to sophomore retention, 4 and 6 year graduation rates.
7. Endowment (include annual budget if you can).
8. Any other facts that make the institution unique. These can be facts about student body, cost, athletic programs, study abroad opportunities, student life, placement rates, faculty/student ratio, etc.
Use the data you’ve collected to make your own qualitative judgements about the institution: For example: Divide the FTE by the annual budget to determine how much the instituion spends to educate each student. Divide the endowment by enrollment to figure out how much capital the institution has to support its student body. Figure out other creative ways to evaluate the school using the data you’ve gathered.
