Strategic Planning and Decision Support
Strategic planning and decision support organizes and analyzes institutional and other data to support planning, assessment and decision making at Salem State University. The office's major responsibility is compiling and filing reports required by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, the US Department of Education and other state and federal agencies.
The office's objectives are:
- To meet, on time and with accurate information, the external reporting requirements of the state and federal government
- To organize, maintain and disseminate institutional data for decision making, program review and accreditation
- To analyze and interpret data as appropriate, providing the information necessary to plan, assess and make decisions
Information at a Glance
The Salem State University fact book includes information that is derived from and aligns with data reported to external organizations such as the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education through the Higher Education Information Resource System (HEIRS). It provides a single-source summary of most of the information in those individual reports.
The factbook reports only the credit-bearing activity of the college, non-credit activities provided by Salem State University are not reflected. It includes data about the entire university but no subunits other than graduate and undergraduate. The intention is to make the factbook available each spring adding annual activity for the previous year and current fall to the trends in the previous factbook.
Institutions have a wide variety of data and information needs. The factbook reflects data from comparable points in time, over time. The data can inform decision-makers by delineating trends as well as providing context and perspective. Today's data collection and retrieval systems provide far more immediate information for operational decisions and the factbook should be used to supplement that data and for providing general information about the university.
The common data set (CDS) initiative is a collaborative effort between higher education data providers and publishers of data about colleges aimed at improving the quality and accuracy of this information. This goal is attained by the development of clear data standards and definitions. Those who report data for their colleges are urged to abide by these standards when providing information about their institution for CDS items. They are also urged to use the answers to CDS items when they are an appropriate response to the numerous survey requests they receive. (Extracted and paraphrased from the CDS website)
Data Disclaimer: It is important to note that data in the common data set may differ from the data on the institutional facts page (or other data sources) due to differences in definition or differences in timing. If you notice a significant discrepancy, please contact the strategic planning and decision support office for clarification or correction.
- General Information [PDF]
- Enrollment and Persistence [PDF]
- First-Time, First-Year (Freshman) [PDF]
- Transfer Admission [PDF]
- Academic Offerings and Policies [PDF]
- Student Life [PDF]
- Annual Expenses [PDF]
- Financial Aid
- Instructional Faculty and Class Size [PDF]
- Degrees Conferred [PDF]
- Data Set Definitions [PDF]
The linear trends books are compiled by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) from data submitted by each of the Massachusetts state universities. The key performance indicators provide some measures of progress on particular goals of public higher education in Massachusetts: access, affordability, student success, and cost effective use of resources.
Current linear trend information is available on the DHE Data Center's website.