Institutional Research

The Office of Institutional Research is committed to serving the College by providing comprehensive data, research, and analytic services to support administrative planning and constituencies across the Lake Forest College community. To accomplish this commitment, the duties of the Office of Institutional Research include but are not limited to: collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and sharing data with the Lake Forest College community; preparing analysis against trends and peers; supporting research and survey administration efforts on-campus; coordinating external data submissions; coordinating campus-wide surveys of students, staff, and faculty; and supporting assessment activity at the College.

Common Data Set

The Common Data Set (CDS) is a part of a national, collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and guidebook publishers to make information sharing more efficient and to provide clear, standard data definitions to attain higher quality and more accurate information. Data items and definitions in the CDS are typically determined by the U.S. Department of Education based on their use in its higher education surveys. The CDS is reported and updated annually. Files detailing the CDS for the last three academic years are listed below.

Common Data Set 2022-2023

Common Data Set 2021-2022

Common Data Set 2020-2021