What's new
Each college gets four indicators of how it changed over its last 10 years of federal data. Each one is up, steady, or down, and always shows its number:
| Indicator | Measure | Counts as steady within |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Average total cost, after inflation | ±5% |
| Applications | Applicants | ±10% |
| Diversity | Diversity index | ±0.03 |
| Selectivity | Acceptance rate, inverted | ±3 points |
- Profiles: four cards in the hero, linking to Over time.
- Explore: "10-year direction" filters with counts, a direction block on each card, and applications and diversity change columns.
- Compare: a 10-year direction table, and diversity in "Then & now".
Behind the scenes
- Small colleges are left out: applications and selectivity need 200+ applicants, and diversity needs 300+ undergraduates.
- Diversity is also skipped when the "other or unknown" race share moves more than 10 points. That signals a change in how the college reports, not in who enrolls. 1,427 colleges have the indicator.
Design and thresholds: trend-indicators.md.