THE COST STUDY

Important Notes for the 2024 Cycle

College/School – To improve our new dashboard reporting tools, we have created a new (optional) variable for the 2023 and 2024 cycles that collects the name of the college, school, or unit for each program that you submit to the study. These codes will not be used to calculate any benchmark metrics and will only be used to sort your programs into groupings on our new institution dashboard. Please consult the definition for College/School for more information.

CIP Codes – In the 2024 cycle, we are continuing to use the 2020 update for CIP codes. When preparing an upload file for your data submission, you should format column C (CIP for program) as ‘text’. Because the 2020 CIP codes differentiate between CIPs with trailing zeroes (e.g., 15, 15.00, and 15.0000), our database has been updated to recognize CIPs as a text/string field. Additionally, if you change the CIP code of an existing program, we can now retain historical records in the portal under the previously assigned CIP code.

Carnegie Classification – In the 2024 cycle, we will continue using the 2021 Basic Classification when categorizing institutions into the most appropriate benchmarking categories. After the conclusion of the 2024 cycle, we will evaluate the impact of the new 2025 Basic Classification.

Data Dictionary – Any updates for the 2024 cycle are listed on the Data Dictionary homepage under “Revisions”.

Data Submission Buttons – To simplify the submission process in the web portal, we have buttons on the home page/Data tab that allow you to upload, review, and submit your data. More detailed instructions can be found in our 2024 How To Submit Data guide.