Data Repositories
The University of South Carolina Aiken is an active participant in several national data repositories. While some such as the National Center for Education Statistics' Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) are federally mandated, others are voluntary. Contributions to repositories and data exchanges facilitate higher education research, allows for benchmarking against comparable and aspirational peers, and contribute to USC Aiken's commitment to openness and public accountability.
Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange
The Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange (CSRDE) is an association of higher education institutions with the common goal of achieving the highest possible levels of student success through collaboratively sharing data, knowledge and innovation. The group consists of Institutional Researchers across institutions who exchange college retention, progression, and graduation data.
College and University Professional Association for Human Resources
Consisting of over 1,800 member organizations, the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) provides leadership on higher education workplace issues in the United States and abroad. Members submit employee position and salary data on an annual basis. The data are used to monitor trends, explore emerging workforce issues, conduct research, and promote strategic discussions among college and university personnel. The organization provides opportunities for members to connect with one another and to develop professionally by hosting conferences and webinars, publishing tools and resources, and offering online communities for collaboration.
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) consists of a series of interrelated surveys conducted annually by the United States Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). IPEDS gathers information from every college, university, and technical and vocational institution that participates in federal student financial aid programs. The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, requires that institutions that participate in federal student aid programs report data on enrollments, program completions, graduation rates, faculty and staff, finances, institutional prices, and student financial aid. These data are made available to students and parents through the College Navigator website and to researchers and others through the IPEDS Data Center.
South Carolina Commission on Higher Education
The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education facilitates institutional data submission from the state's public and independent colleges and university through the Commission on Higher Education Management Information System (CHEMIS), a higher education database. Data are collected throughout the year and are used for research, responding to inquiries at the state and national levels, and carrying out higher program administration requirements.
National Student Clearinghouse
The National Student Clearinghouse is an educational nonprofit that provides educational reporting, verification, and research services to a network of over 3,600 North American colleges and universities. NSC hosts data on student enrollment and degree attainment representing over 97% of postsecondary enrollment in the United States.
Student Achievement Measure
In the Summer of 2013, the six leading national higher education associations: the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of American Universities (AAU), and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) launched the Student Achievement Measure (SAM) initiative. Funding for the SAM initiative was provided in large part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with additional funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, AASCU, and APLU.
The goal of SAM is to enhance transparency and to provide the public with a more comprehensive measure of college student progress and completion by including a larger number of students and by tracking the outcomes of students who enroll in multiple higher education institutions.
You can find student progression and completion data for USC Aiken on it's Student Acheivement Profile Page.
An inaugural member, the University of South Carolina Aiken was the first institution in South Carolina and among the first in the Nation to sign up in support of this accountability initiative. More information on this initiative is available at the SAM: Student Achievement Measure website.