Data Resources

About Official Data

Official data include those data points (e.g., census headcount, 6-year graduation rate, first-year retention rate) generated by OIE following SUNY/state/federal definitions, reported to those agencies, and shared with the public. Commonly-used official data can be found on OIE’s public and internal websites. When completing data requests, surveys, or reports for external entities, it is important to utilize these official data points whenever possible to match the data provided to our governing bodies. In most cases, the data posted by November of each year on the OIE webpage will serve as official data for the next 12 months.

Official headcount (census) — the number of students actively enrolled at the institution after the third week of classes. Census date is determined by SUNY, and includes only student types considered by SUNY to be “home institution students” (for example, excluding students from other SUNYs taking courses at SUNY Plattsburgh and students enrolled in a college in the high school program). The fall term official headcount is always used unless there is a specific request for the headcount from a different term.
6-Year Graduation Rate — federally defined outcome measure determined by the percent of the entering first-time, full-time bachelor degree-seeking cohort who attained their degree in 150% of normal time (for a 4-year degree that is 6 years).
First-year retention — the federally defined measure determined by the percent of the entering first-time, full-time cohort who are still enrolled at the institution the following fall.

Official data should be used in any report, survey, or filing with an outside agency or in FOIL requests, unless other data definitions are specifically requested. Commonly requested/used official data includes fall headcount, 6-year graduation rates, first-year retention.

About Census

The SUNY Board of Trustees policy states that registrations become official twenty-one days after the course’s start date. The official census dates for enrollment during Fall and Spring terms occur at the close of business on Day 15 of the term. At this point data are “frozen” to enable an accurate enrollment count to be obtained.

These frozen data reflect a snapshot of student enrollment which is used as the official enrollment data for state, federal, accreditation, and SUNY reporting. SUNY Plattsburgh’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness will share an enrollment report based on census data by the SUNY mandated deadlines of November 1st for Fall and April 1st for Spring. A subsequent retention report will be shared with campus by November 15th in Fall and April 15th in Spring.

The Census Timeline and Process is as follows:

End of Week 3 (Fall and Spring Term) — Registration data become official
November 1 (Fall) and April 1 (Spring) — Official data submitted to SUNY; enrollment report shared with campus
November 15 (Fall) and April 15 (Spring) — Retention report shared with campus
End of Term — Data updated to reflect term in Argos and Student Success Dashboards

Requesting Data or Assistance Identifying Available Data

Questions about Argos Dashboard

Requests for Data for Rankings or Other External Purposes

If you receive a request for data for rankings or other external purposes, please contact OIE. The process to evaluate these requests is as follows:

Institutional research coordinator (or other relevant position) evaluates requests based on the below criteria and consultation with other stakeholders as needed.
IR coordinator shares recommendations for next steps with the director of institutional effectiveness and, if deemed necessary, with vice president of enrollment and student success and senior vice president of academic affairs.
Director of IE and/or VP enrollment and student success and SVP academic affairs consult with other stakeholders as needed and make final recommendations for request response.

Criteria to Evaluate Requests:

Benefits: By providing data, are we increasing the likelihood that we receive positive external publicity (e.g. positive rankings)?
Audience: Would the positive external publicity be shared with important audiences?
Institutional Priorities: Does the submission of data align with institutional priorities?
Resources: What amount of time / effort is required to provide the requested information?

Third party entities making unsolicited requests for student data to administer surveys should not be accepted in the interest of student data privacy and survey fatigue. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of administration; however, in those instances the University Survey Support group should be consulted.

Third party requests to administer surveys to SUNY Plattsburgh employees should be evaluated by University Survey Support in consultation with SUNY Plattsburgh IRB. Criteria used to consider these requests include the required time to complete the survey and potential benefit to individuals or the institution. External agencies should not be provided with participant contact information prior to participants opting into the study and a courtesy copy of the outside agency’s IRB determination letter should be provided. If it is deemed acceptable to proceed with this survey, a SUNY Plattsburgh faculty champion will be identified and will work within their divisions and the USS framework to receive permission to recruit participants.

Race/Ethnicity Categories Across Campus

Gender Reporting

Data Glossary

Common Data Terms

CDS — the Common Data Set — a selection of commonly-used official data points entered into a standard format for use in college guides, and college rankings. It is produced by OIE every spring.
FTE — full-time equivalency — standardized measure of student or faculty headcount based on credits. For students (FTES) it is the number of credits attempted divided by the number of credits need to be considered full-time (generally 12, sometimes 15). For faculty, FTE is the number of credits taught compared to the expected full-time workload.
FTFT — first-time, full-time — refers to first-time-in-college degree-seeking students, who are attending full-time, generally synonymous with “traditional freshman.”
FTFT Cohort — the FTFT students entering an institution in the Fall term of an academic year (including the summer term immediately prior). The FTFT Cohort generally serves as the basis for federal and state outcomes reporting, including the calculation of graduation rates.
IR — institutional research — the office and process of collecting, analyzing, and reporting institutional data for external stakeholders and providing decision support to internal stakeholders.
IE — institutional effectiveness
Local Data — data stored on campus-based information management or database systems — primarily Banner.
SCH — student credit hour(s)

Agency & Reporting Acronyms

SUNY

BI/SUNY BI — Business Intelligence — decision support and data warehouse system used by SUNY Central, where SIRIS data is sent to be stored.
SICAS — the Student Information and Campus Administrative Systems — the organization responsible for building/programming the technology used to complete SIRIS reporting to SUNY.
SIRIS — the SUNY Institutional Research Information System — the electronic data transfer system used to recode local data to standard SUNY format and complete requested annual reports. SIRIS is how we collect and transmit data to SUNY.

Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)

MSCHE — see above — our regional accreditor
AIU — Annual Institutional Update — annual update required my MSCHE, submitted in the spring.

State

HEDS — the Higher Education Data System — system of annual state government-mandated reports on enrollment, financial aid, outcomes and other information for institutions of higher education, as well as the old web-based system for filing them.
IDeX — the IRS Data Exchange — web-based system for filing HEDS reports, replacing older HEDS interface.
IRP — the Inventory of Registered Programs — NYSED list of approved educational programs. A school can only offer and recruit for programs appearing on the IRP.
NYSED — New York State Education Department

Federal

ELSI — the Elementary/Secondary Information System — annual series of federal government-mandated reports on elementary and secondary school enrollment and outcomes, the K–12 equivalent to IPEDS.
IPEDS — the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System — annual series of federal government-mandated reports (called surveys) on enrollment, financial aid, outcomes, and other information for institutions of higher education receiving federal Title IV funds.
NCES — the National Center for Education Statistics — federal agency producing summative reports based on IPEDS submissions. They also provide query tools for IPEDS submissions.

Data Resources

Enrollment History & Trends

Data Resources

Learn More About Institutional Data

Common Data Terms

Agency & Reporting Acronyms