Spreadsheet and Visualization Basics with Stanford Tuition

(rough notes)

What we aren’t comparing (because it’s hard)

When we look at tuition rates, what is it we hope to figure out? Besides whether we can afford college, we also want to know – for any kind of transaction – whether we’re getting our money’s worth

• Schools in Stanford’s tier
• Stanford vs. state schools
• Stanford vs. not going to any school

Some examples:

20 years of tuition growth at national universities: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2017-09-20/see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities

Tuition and Fees, 1998 through 2016: http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/tuition-and-fees

Average Tuition as % of Median Earnings: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/03/08/the-biggest-problem-facing-higher-education-in-one-chart/

Economic diversity and student outcomes at Stanford: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/stanford-university

Stanford and economic data

Stanford University Common Data Set 2007-2008

Stanford Financial Aid: The Student Budget (current)

Stanford Financial Aid: The Student Budget (Historical)

Inflation data tabulated by Inflation Calculator: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-price-index-and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/

BLS Data portal: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/data.htm

Rough lecture

Lecture notes to be added later. Links to example data sheets and graphics

• 2017 tuition and costs (single-series)

  • 2007 vs 2017 (multi-series)
  • https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IShBr2u-DB0SdIpa0jjQJdEW2_kVQyPEBDOAHAtuQGw/edit#gid=0

• Stanford tuition by year and decade

  • https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o0URtAFAB6MiW2XhsLpvr9ucZFHJZqCjKEPhoRjgGJ4/edit#gid=1849191921

• Charting inflation

  • https://docs.google.com/a/stanford.edu/spreadsheets/d/19rUf4miKf3kEq6lQMlQRAeTv8m26iyrX2Fbaenf7mZU/edit?usp=drive_web

• Charting tuition with respect to inflation

  https://docs.google.com/a/stanford.edu/spreadsheets/d/19VLCD7sZUWBIMxgTu9_UEfAepFzapROM61mTj624jx4/edit?usp=drive_web

Some examples of why using a second y-axis is bad

• https://medium.com/towards-data-science/5-ways-data-visualizations-can-lie-46e54f41de37
• http://stephanieevergreen.com/two-alternatives-to-using-a-second-y-axis/
• https://medium.com/@zanarmstrong/one-set-of-data-many-stories-7710ed792faf
• https://medium.com/@zanarmstrong/part-ii-one-set-of-data-many-stories-c3d1d1272212
• http://www.thefunctionalart.com/2015/10/if-you-see-bullshit-say-bullshit.html