- Phase 1: The Affordability Project. Enrollment, Financial Aid, Cost of Attendance, and Wages: Completers vs Non-Completers. (See also, the full version of this paper.) For students who make an investment in higher education but do not complete a degree, the returns may not outweigh the costs. This paper examines multiple cohorts of first-time college students attending UT academic institutions, examining their enrollment and completion patterns, financial aid, estimated cost of attendance, and post-exit wages to provide a holistic assessment of affordability that moves beyond access (cost and debt) to also consider the outcomes, or returns, and how that value shifts for those who do not complete their degree. / October 2025
- Overview: 2025 Carnegie Classifications. This paper provides a brief overview of the 2025 Carnegie Classification framework, including details about the multidimensional data-driven approach to institutional categorization and the separate research activity designations. It includes the resulting classifications for UT System institutions. / September 2025
- Investigating Graduation Outcomes at UT System Using Survival Analysis. This study uses survival analysis to examine the timing of graduation for UT System students and presents information on the variables—such as student characteristics or academic factors—associated with graduation. / July 2025
- Break Even. Using the "story" of four young people graduating from a Texas high school, this analysis looks at the earnings and break-even point for UT System graduates who were found working. In addition, it explores differences in earnings, the break-even point, and return on investment based on program of study, gender, race/ethnicity, and Pell status. / This work was done primarily across the two-year period 2021-23. It was published here in July 2025.
- The Long View: Students from UT Institutions in the Texas Workforce. This brief leverages 45 years of student enrollment records to examine the impact and contributions of more than 1.4 million former UT students on the Texas workforce. Among Texas workers aged 25 to 64 with at least some college or a degree, 16% were former UT students. These former UT students earned over $133.6 billion in 2023, helping drive the Texas economy. / May 2025
- Research Activity at UT System. This paper examines research activity at UT System institutions, including trends in total and federal expenditures; expenditures by source, agency, and field; national rankings; and metrics by FTE tenured/tenure-track faculty. / May 2025
- Federal Borrowing Patterns of UT System FTIC Undergraduates. This study analyzes federal loan borrowing patterns at UT System Academic Institutions, with a focus on students who reach the maximum federal loan aggregate within eight years. / January 2025
- Examining Hispanic Servingness. This brief dives into UT System data to assess how well we are serving our students, with a focus on degree completion. / November 2024
- Non-Traditional Students at UT System Academic Institutions. This brief examines recent trends and outcomes for students from the University of Texas (UT) System academic institutions with one or more of the following non-traditional student characteristics: older than typical age, attend part-time, or are financially independent of parents. / October 2024
- Undergraduate Student Debt for Baccalaureate Recipients at The University of Texas System Academic Institutions. Research brief examines trends in student debt for baccalaureates who begin and complete at the same UT System academic institution. It includes breakdowns by program, by race/ethnicity, and gender, as well as state comparisons / September 2024
- International Student Enrollment at UT System Institutions in Fall 2022. Research brief summarizes the most common countries of origin for international students for Fall 2022, details international student enrollment by institution, and compares enrollment counts from Fall 2019 to Fall 2022 to examine enrollment trends for international students across the COVID-19 pandemic / September 2023
- Research Expenditures at The University of Texas System. Research brief presents data from FY 2016 to 2021, showing research expenditures for each UT institution through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Accountability System, and summarizing trends in total research expenditures and funding sources (federal, local, private, and state) / December 2022
- Dual Credit Programs in Texas. Research brief presents data from 2015 to 2020, noting differences in the number of dual credit students in programs across Texas, as well as the number of semester credit hours (SCH) earned per student / Fall 2022
- Employment and Earnings Inequities: A Case Study from The University Of Texas System. Troutman, D. R., & Creusere, M. Using data from UT System’s Office of Institutional Research and Analysis (OIRA), this paper—a part of the foundational research series for the Postsecondary Value Commission—explores differences in earnings across gender & race/ethnicity / 2021
- Exploring Equitable Postsecondary Value at the University of Texas System. Interactive dashboard allows users to analyze and compare UT System institutions using Postsecondary Value Framework / 2021
- Does a College Degree Help Students Surpass Their Parents’ Earnings? Research brief shows the substantial impact a postsecondary education has on intergenerational income and upward mobility / Spring 2019
- Postsecondary Education Impact on Intergenerational Income Mobility: Differences by Completion Status, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Type of Major. Article published by The Journal of Higher Education / January 2019
—Direct link to article on TJHE website: DOI: 10.1080/00221546.2019.1565882 - Affordability and Higher Education. Two-page report showing the importance of providing affordability, boosting post-collegiate outcomes, and investing in higher education / January 2019
- UT System Dual Credit Study - Dual Credit and Success in College (PDF). How dual credit programs affect graduation rates and student debt, as well as the pros and cons of dual credit from both student and faculty perspectives / August 2018
- Major Matters Most: The Economic Value of Bachelor’s Degrees from The University of Texas System (PDF), Collaborative report with Georgetown Center for Education and the Workforce / July 2017
