TO: Elise MWer, !PEDS Program Director; Thomas Weko, Associate Commissioner, Postsecondmy Studies Division FROM: Matthew Reed, Prot,:rram Director, The Institute for College Access & Success; Chair, NP EC Financial Aid Data Working Group RE: Challenges in Matching Campus-Level Datafrom U.S. Department of Education sources Timely, accurate, and comprehensive data are critical to identifying and addressing what is and is not working in higher education. Consumers, policymakers, and researchers all need user-friendly access to meaningful data -data that can deepen our understanding of important issues and inform decision-making at all levels. However, within the U.S. Department ofEducation, different datasets use different identifiers for schools and campuses, and some datasets report data for each campus while others group related campuses together. This makes it difficult if not impossible to compare schools or campuses to analyze the impact of federal, state, and
