Saturday, November 14, 2009

By the Numbers

I've finally found the number I've been looking for and it's exactly the number I guessed it would be.

I've written a bit about the problems with the Washington Monthly University Rankings. (Here, here and here.) A big problem is that they report an almost certainly inflated percentage of Pell Grant recipients at Penn State University Park . The number which they give, 25%,  is the system-wide number.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the correct number for this academic years. All of the federal databases either report old numbers for University Park or system-wide numbers. The historically the percentage of Pell Grant recipients at the main campus has hovered around 15%. The most recent year for which this data is available is 2006. 

Well, as luck would have it, I've discovered a place where Penn State has reported the actual number for University Park for the 2007-2008  academic year. Not quite the most up-to-date number, but it moves the ball a bit closer to the goal line.  And the number is.........15%.

I'll have another post up shortly about the source of this most recent number.

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