New Strong Foundations report examines state efforts in understanding rurality in higher education

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A new report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) looks at how state higher education agencies are collecting and using postsecondary student unit record systems. Informed by a 2025 survey of state higher education agencies, the report, Strong Foundations 2025: Insights into State Postsecondary Rural Data, has a special emphasis on state data efforts for rural learners and institutions. The new report summarizes key findings from the survey, highlighting how states use data to advance policy and outcomes for rural communities. 

The Strong Foundations 2025 survey examines the extent to which state agencies collect and use rural data, the catalysts for their work, and the challenges and opportunities they encounter in using this information to inform policy and practice. The data provides improved insight into state rural contexts – both on the ground realities and the potential and limitations of current data systems to inform and reflect those contexts.

Thirty-seven percent of agencies said they collect or use data related to rural learners, rural institutions, or rural-serving institutions; however, most respondents (87%) said they do not have formal definitions for these categories. Defining rurality was the most cited challenge in conducting rural data work. States are drawing on a variety of sources to analyze rural learners, such as the U.S. Census Bureau, IPEDS, the U.S. Department of Education, and their state economic development offices, among others.

“For both rural learners and the institutions that serve them, geography and socioeconomic conditions are central to postsecondary opportunity and to the vitality of rural communities more broadly,” said Stephen Mayfield, Senior Policy Analyst at SHEEO. 

“Research shows the notion that proximity to college matters,” said Jessica Colorado, Senior Policy Analyst at SHEEO. “For rural-serving institutions, rurality presents challenges in resources and capacity, even though those institutions have deep importance to their communities.”

State higher education agencies were asked about the types of data they are collecting, their connections to other state agency data systems and state longitudinal data systems (SLDSs), data disaggregation, and the collection of data elements.

Updated dashboards with survey responses, and the new report can be found online at postsecondarydata.sheeo.org. Blog posts highlighting analysis and other findings from the survey are forthcoming.

Seven states named to new higher education Basic Needs Academy

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The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) kicked off a new Basic Needs Academy this week, focused on supporting states in expanding data capacity and developing policy infrastructure for integrating and using basic needs information in state postsecondary data systems.

Seven states – Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawai‘i, Kentucky, Minnesota, and New York – have been chosen to participate in a three-year initiative developed in partnership with the ECMC Foundation.  

Basic needs insecurities, such as insufficient access to food, housing, mental health resources, childcare, technology, and transportation, pose significant challenges to millions of college students annually, often impeding their academic success. Despite efforts by SHEEO agencies to gather this critical information, the collection, utilization, and alignment of basic needs data with other state administrative data remain inconsistent nationwide. This inconsistency impedes a comprehensive understanding of how basic needs insecurities affect student outcomes and the effectiveness of programs designed to address these issues.

SHEEO’s new Basic Needs Academy is designed to support state teams in developing or enhancing their basic needs data to improve policy and decision-making, engage stakeholders, inform programming and services, and ultimately support students. 

“It’s important for states to develop basic needs definitions and identify corresponding data elements and taxonomies that align across state agencies, institutions, and partner organizations,” said Carrie Klein, Associate Vice President at SHEEO. “This will help states better integrate basic needs data into their data systems and ultimately all to develop stronger policies and programs to support students and their success.”

SHEEO will provide each state team with a $60,000 capacity-building sub-grant. State teams will also have access to state team coaches and content experts from the Coleridge Initiative, The Hope Center, and WestEd’s Data Integration Support Center, who will provide ongoing guidance and technical assistance throughout the project.

Learn more about the Basic Needs Academy at https://sheeo.org/project/basic-needs-academy/. 

New Strong Foundations report and dashboards highlight state higher education data systems’ enduring value

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For more than 50 years, state higher education agencies have used postsecondary student unit record systems (PSURSs) to inform policy and decision-making. Postsecondary student unit record systems are the primary means for states to collect data and analyze student progress, completions, and outcomes. In a survey to its members, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) asked state higher education agencies about their PSURSs, including the types of data they are collecting, their connections to other state agency data systems and state longitudinal data systems (SLDSs), and the value of those data to inform and improve state goals and student outcomes. The survey responses and analysis are outlined in a new Strong Foundations report and subsequent dashboards on the postsecondarydata.sheeo.org website.

In Strong Foundations 2023, SHEEO asked which state partner agencies their PSURSs data are linked to or shared with and what barriers and incentives exist related to that linking and sharing. As with prior years, state agencies reported a diversity of approaches to housing and sharing their postsecondary data. State agencies are collecting a variety of data elements from a variety of institutional types.

As expected, PSURSs connections with K-12 and workforce agency data systems are among the most reported connections; yet there are growing connections with other state agencies, including health and human services, foster care, and corrections agencies. The most reported barriers to efficient data sharing between agencies include data privacy concerns, coordination with other state authorities and administrators, lack of time for agency staff to link and analyze shared data, a lack of common identifiers and crosswalks, and a lack of fiscal resources. 

Forty-seven state agencies access workforce data elements, with the most common data elements collected including wages earned and employment year. Likewise, 44 state agencies access K-12 data elements, with district/school code, student race/ethnicity, and graduation date being the most common data elements. 

“State postsecondary data systems are vital for policymakers and researchers within state higher education agencies,” said Carrie Klein, associate vice president at SHEEO. “Results from our survey illustrate the deep value state agencies find in their PSURSs. As these systems and their connections continue to evolve and grow, agencies are identifying opportunities for improved insight into and support of student realities and outcomes.”

SHEEO also asked about data disaggregation and the collection of data elements, beyond traditional demographic data (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, and age), tied to access, opportunity, and success efforts. Results indicate that state agencies continue to employ PSURS data to gain greater insight into and support of their diverse student populations and that they are increasingly disaggregating race, ethnicity, and gender data beyond Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) categories. 

Among the new data elements SHEEO included for reporting this year are tribal affiliation, student parent/caregiver status, foster care status, refugee status, justice system involvement, and other data elements about historically underrepresented groups in higher education. 

A revamped website with new dashboards has been developed to help SHEEO members understand the survey results. Find the Strong Foundations 2023 report here, and visit https://postsecondarydata.sheeo.org/data/ to explore or download the data.