Identifying Data Collected

This is a first rough draft, presenting the more recognizable ways we report and collect data. One of the best ways to get to know the UW data and the business and table definitions around that data is by exploring the UW Knowledge Navigator. (

Data Reported to

Accrediting Organizations and Collaborative Groups

  • NWCCU – enrollment of faculty and staff
  • AAUP and AAUDE – faculty demographics and salary
  • Each program may have its own accreditation reports they submit.
  • External partners: YMCA, Persistence Plus, etc

Federal Reports

  • IPEDS, Common Data Set, etc – Reported for all three campuses by the Office of Planning and Budgeting.
  • Veteran’s Reporting – Generated for Tacoma by Veteran’s Services with additional support from Institutional Research
  • Data for grant research – varied with support from Institutional Research
  • Example: Specific grant for Environmental Science may need demographics on only those majors with custom GPA calculations

State Reports

  • PECHEES – Reported for all three campuses by the Office of Planning and Budgeting.

UW Tacoma Report

  • Campus Profiles – Institutional Research, UW Tacoma Advancement, UW Tacoma Student Services, Chancellor’s office
  • Campus self-serving online reports – managed by UW Tacoma IT
  • ICORA – Statewide Registrars comparative report, created and delivered by the UW Registrars

“Ranking Reports”

  • US News and World Reports – compiled by the Office of Planning and Budgeting
  • Financial Aid Survey
  • Finance Survey
  • Primary comparative survey
  • College Board - compiled by the Office of Planning and Budgeting

Data Collected (retained or delivered)

Central Systems - available

  • Application data
  • Financial Aid Data
  • Admissions data
  • Course Registration data
  • Student Transfer data
  • Space data
  • Alumni data
  • Research data
  • Human resources data

Internal collection – available

  • One and Five year graduation reports – Office of Educational Assessment
  • Our UW Tacoma survey data
  • Card swipes from various offices and the library all have potential uses

External system

  • National Student Clearinghouse – data submitted and accessible
  • Graduate applications

External Data Used

  • National Student Clearinghouse – information on institutions attended by UW students prior to or after their attendance here
  • Washington State Office of Fiscal Management – designation of Washington State STEM, High Demand, and NSF STEM
  • Department of Homeland security – designation of Federal STEM
  • Federal Department of Education – classification of instructional programs (CIP)

Data gotchas

Data accessibility and reliability is problematic when addressing:

  • Applicant information – the rules are different for using applicant data than they are for student data
  • Financial aid data – very little of the FASFA data can be used at the student level. Aggregate measures are easier to have released.
  • Applicant information for Graduate Students – is held in a 3rd party system and we usually only see the data on Graduate students who get to the offered stage (Ted confirm that this is still true)
  • Employment data – after graduation Advancement and the Office of Educational Assessment are the best sources for employment, salary, and additional education.
  • HR and Academic HR data – demographics are better for recent hires but there isn’t a way for employees to easily update their demographic information and very few people have access to that data.
  • Gender data – we currently only collect ‘male’, ‘female’, or null
  • Ethnicity – we actually collect quite a bit! Details are here: