The Common Data Set (CDS) contains information about:
Enrollment and Persistence, Graduation Rates, First Year Student Admissions,
Transfer Admissions, Academic Offerings, Annual Expenses, Financial Aid,
and Faculty.
The CDS is a cooperative effort among data providers in higher education
and publishers of information about higher education (e.g., the College
Board, U.S. News and World Report, etc.). The goal of the CDS is to improve
the quality and accuracy of information provided to the public about higher
education. Thus, the CDS employs a set of standard definitions for data items.
When viewing OSU responses to the CDS, it is important to also examine the
definitions which structure the way in which data is extracted and reported.
Many higher education surveys rely on information from the CDS for their
survey items as well as specific items that are the property of the individual
publisher.