Key Metrics For Higher Education Analytics: Student Financials

by Naresh Meda

Student Financial Analytics is about supporting the best decisions possible regarding access to affordable education and financial planning.  It can bring together student financial data including costs to students, financial aid, and other student income so we can understand trends, opportunities, and impacts of external events and make the best decisions possible regarding access to affordable education and financial planning.  

There are 3 main areas when discussing the analysis of Student Financials:

1. Student Financial Aid
2. Student Affordability
3. Student Fees & Payments

Student Financial Aid

Student Financial Aid analysis examines financial award amounts information by type, source, income range, etc.

Key Metrics:

Average Award Paid Amt: Financial aid award dollars paid divided by the number of students receiving the award type.

Award Paid Amt: Financial aid award dollars paid or credited to a student for a given time period.  Includes all award types, including grants, scholarships, fellowships, loans, work study, fee remissions, and waivers.

Award Paid Dist %: Ratio of each award type’s dollar paid amount to the grand total of financial aid award dollars paid.

Count – Awarded Students: Number of students who received an award for a given time period. 

Student Affordability

Student Affordability analysis examines federal student loan debt.  Debt totals include all unpaid federal debt balances as of the term of graduation.

Key Metrics:

Count – Degree Earners: Number of students who graduated in a given aid year. 

Average Borrower Debt: The average Federal student debt balance at graduation for those students with Federal debt.

Count – Has Debt: Count of the number of students with federal debt balances > 0 at graduation

% Degree Earners (distribution): Ratio of the number of graduating students with federal debt balances in the given debt range to the grand total count of graduating students.

% Ever Pell:  Ratio of the number of graduating students who ever received a Pell Grant to the grand total count of graduating students.

% with Debt: Ratio of the number of graduating students with federal debt balances >0 to the grand total count of graduating students. aka Rate of Borrowing

Family Income Year Amt:  Annual family income, which includes gross earned and untaxed income (e.g. Social Security).

Student Fees & Payments:

Student Affordability analysis examines information about the fees students have been charged over the past 5 years, as well as the sources and types of payments students have used to cover their costs.

Key Metrics:

Student Count: In Student Fees & Payments dashboard: The number of students who were billed a particular type of charge or made a particular type of payment or other transaction.  This is a unique count – students with multiple transactions of a given type will only be counted once.

Total Amount: In Student Fees & Payments dashboard:  The nominal dollar amount of student account transactions.  Positive amounts are charges (debits) to the student account.  Negative amounts are payments or awards (credits) to the student account. 

Average Amount per Student: In Student Fees & Payments dashboard:  The nominal dollar amount of student account transactions divided by the unique student count.   This calculates the average amount of a particular type of transaction for students who had at least one transaction of that type.

Transaction Count: The number of individual transactions (excluding adjustments) that were applied to student accounts.  Each student account will have several transactions.

Unpaid Balance: The dollar amount of charges (debits) to student accounts that remain unpaid and not written off as of the most recent reporting period.  The amount will appear in the Aid Year column in which the charge was billed, even though the balance amount is captured as of the most recent period.

Summary

The key metrics for Student Financial Analytics can help a campus to reduce the debt that students face and improve the recruitment of the best and most diverse candidates.  Funding for students is typically the second biggest source of revenue for a higher education institution.   With these metrics, resources can used more effectively, seize new opportunities, reduce risks, and further the university’s mission of teaching, research and public service.

Naresh Meda is Lead Consultant at KPI Partners.  He has specialized in the area of Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, and Data Integration. Check out Naresh’s blog at KPIPartners.com.