Education: Cohort by Size

While the use of the Carnegie Classification is a traditional measure for creating evaluative cohorts for an institution, for the purposes of this project it was also desired to measure UIUC strictly against other institutions of its size. The 40-year period over which NCES data is collected captures a period of considerable growth among the US educational fabric, and so it was clear that any cohort involving size would have to be computed on a per-year basis. The total universe of award-granting institutions in the IPEDS/HEGIS universe for each year was divided in quartiles based on the total number of BS/MS/CAS/PhD/Pro degrees it awarded that year to create cohort groups for comparison. All schools in the same quartile as UIUC (UIUC was in the top quartile for all years in NCES data) were then compiled into the UIUC "Cohort by Size" for that year. To examine more closely UIUC's cohort, see the UIUC cohort by year table.

The following four graphs show the average number of degrees awarded by year for institutions in each quartile to show growth patterns specific to institutions at each size level.

Fourth Quartile (Top)

Third Quartile

Second Quartile

First Quartile (Bottom)