Factors predicting college application numbers in New York State

The motivation of the program came from the overall declining college applications trend in the United States. So I decided to find out the reasons that attract students' applications, specifically from college characteristics. The full code, dataset and paper are available.

• Data Source: Custom dataset selection tools from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) project ) on the National Center for Education Statistics website

• Variables description

  Table 1: Numeric Variable Descriptions

Variable	Description
unitid	University ID
year	The year in which the data was collected (2022)
sf_ratio	Student to faculty ratio
salary	Average faculty salary
fees	Total cost of tuition and other school fees
finanAid_percent	Percent of students receiving financial aid
applicants	The number of total applicants in 2022

Table 2: Categorical Variable Descriptions

Variable	Description	Levels	Description
category	Category of schools classified by the level of offerings	baccalaureate	Degree-granting, primarily baccalaureate or above
		non-baccalaureate	Degree-granting, not primarily baccalaureate or above
		asso&certificate	Degree-granting, Associate's and certificates

• Results
  -Main findings
  Average faculty salary, annual tuition and fees, the number of students receiving financial aid, and school category were significant predictors of the number of college applications.
  
  log(applicants)=β0+ β1salary+β2fees+β3finanai_percent+ β4category +ϵ.
  
  Model results
  
  
  -Degree categorical differences
  On average, schools that primarily offer baccalaureate or higher degrees receive the most applications, followed by schools that primarily offer nonbaccalaureate and associate's degrees and certificates.