rscorecard

This package is an R wrapper for the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard API. It allows users to select and filter Scorecard variables with piped commands a la dplyr.

Installation

Install the latest released version from CRAN with

install.packages("rscorecard")

Install the latest development version from Github with

devtools::install_github("btskinner/rscorecard")

This package relies on the Scorecard data dictionary, so I will attempt to update it in a timely fashion whenever new Scorecard data are released. Because it sometimes takes a few days to get a package on CRAN, you may want to download the developmental version in the days immediately following a data update.

Usage

Set API key

Get your Data.gov API key at https://api.data.gov/signup/. Save your key in your R environment at the start of your R session using sc_key():

## use your real key in place of the Xs
sc_key('xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx')

Request data

library(rscorecard)

df <- sc_init() %>% 
    sc_filter(region == 2, ccbasic == c(21,22,23), locale == 41:43) %>% 
    sc_select(unitid, instnm, stabbr) %>% 
    sc_year("latest") %>% 
    sc_get()

## Request complete!

df

## # A tibble: 6 x 4
##   instnm                                                  stabbr unitid year  
##   <chr>                                                   <chr>   <int> <chr> 
## 1 SUNY Morrisville                                        NY     196051 latest
## 2 Pennsylvania State University-Penn State New Kensington PA     214625 latest
## 3 Paul Smiths College of Arts and Science                 NY     194392 latest
## 4 Houghton College                                        NY     191676 latest
## 5 Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Wilkes-Barre   PA     214643 latest
## 6 Wells College                                           NY     197230 latest

For more example calls and information about other package commands, see the extended vignette.

Data dictionary

To look up information about data elements, use the sc_dict() function.

sc_dict("control")

## 
## ---------------------------------------------------------------------
## varname: control                                        source: IPEDS
## ---------------------------------------------------------------------
## DESCRIPTION:
## 
## Control of institution
## 
## VALUES: 
## 
## 1 = Public
## 2 = Private nonprofit
## 3 = Private for-profit
## 1 = Public
## 2 = Private nonprofit
## 3 = Private for-profit
## 4 = Foreign
## 
## 
## ---------------------------------------------------------------------
## varname: schtype                                          source: FSA
## ---------------------------------------------------------------------
## DESCRIPTION:
## 
## Control of institution, per PEPS
## 
## VALUES: 
## 
## 1 = Public
## 2 = Private, Nonprofit
## 3 = Proprietary
## 
## ---------------------------------------------------------------------
## Printed information for 2 of out 2 variables.

Further references

• College Scorecard Website
• Data documentation
• Data dictionary [XLS]
• Reports
  • Policy paper
  • Technical paper