Common Data Set

The Office of Institutional Research & Assessment responds to many requests for information. The Common Data Set (CDS) is a set of publicly-released, well-defined facts/data that are used to share standard information about a college or university. Definitions for each data item are located at the bottom of this page.

Since the early 1990s, four major publishers (the College Board, Peterson's, U.S. News & World Report, and Wintergreen/Orchard House) have collaborated with the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) and the institutional research community in the Common Data Set (CDS) initiative. Today, IR or other individuals in colleges and universities complete the CDS and share it with those interested.

The data sets are made available in .pdf formats as developed by Adobe. The Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded for free from their web site. If you do not have the Acrobat reader on your computer, you must download and install it before reading USMA's common data set.


2007-2008


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