THE COST STUDY

Important Notes for the 2023 Cycle

Missing -vs- Zero Values in Data Entry – For the 2023 cycle, you should insert a value of ‘m’ to indicate missing data, i.e., when you are unable to provide a value to the study. In all other cases, cells should be filled in with a zero (or relevant numeric value). The use of an ‘m’ applies to both manual data entry in the web portal and the Excel spreadsheet used for uploading data. Please consult the definition for Missing vs. Zero Data for more information.

College/School – To improve our new dashboard reporting tools, we have created a new (optional) variable for the 2023 cycle 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 2023 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.

Data Dictionary – A new Data Dictionary was published for the 2021 cycle, which provides definitions and examples of the data fields required for data submissions, along with important key terms. Any updates for the 2023 cycle are listed on the Data Dictionary homepage under “Revisions”.

Terms of Use – If you were not a participant in the 2021 or 2022 cycles, please carefully review the 2023 Terms of Use. There were several updates to the 2021 and 2022 TOUs that have carried over to the 2023 TOU including: edits to Section C clarifying appropriate data sharing and additional information in Section E regarding login credentials.