What is the College Scorecard Data?
The college scorecard data is a synopsis of college information, broken down at an individual college level. There is information regarding ACT, SAT, as well as financial information. For more information, see here: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/.
Summary Statistics
Some would argue that it is common knowledge that there is a large difference in financial and student demographics as we compare private for-profit, private non-profit, and public institutions.
The following information describes some key statistics, summarized by type of institution.
| CONTROL | Average SAT Average | Average Median ACT | Average Cost For Attending | Average Family Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private for-profit | 1123.600 | 23.40000 | 26328.87 | 26893.92 |
| Private non-profit | 1142.283 | 23.74937 | 38760.01 | 56711.76 |
| Public | 1115.477 | 22.94726 | 15695.11 | 39364.73 |
We are able to see some interesting variations. Private non-profit colleges lead in every calculated category. Private non-profit colleges have a:
- 0.3 points higher median ACT than the private for-profit universities.
- 19 points higher SAT average than the private for-profit universities.
- $12,000 higher cost for attending than private for-profit universities.
- $30,000 higher average family income,
Further, public university are lowest in all of the categories except average family income, which is lead by private non-profit at $26,893.
Does the Percentage of Students on a Federal Loan Change by Institution Type?
One of the things that I am interested in exploring is whether there
is a difference overall in the percent of students on federal loans by
institution type. In order to accomplish this goal, I have elected to
create a box plot by institution type and the average percentage of
students on a federal loan. 
Based on this visualization, we are able to see the distribution of
students who are exercising a federal loan in order to find part or all
of their education. Public institutions, on average, have a lower
percentage of students who are using a federal loan, where as private
for-profit and private non-profit institutions have a higher average,
where the majority of their students, over 50%, are using a loan.
This could be explained partly by higher costs which we saw in the summary table, in which both types of private institutions had a average cost that was well above the average public cost for attendance.