Tag: data

Comparing school tuition data

There were many things that I found interesting in the comparative report while doing the school tuition data exercise. Before I started college in 2013 I haven’t looked into college’s tuition cost and ratings. I just wanted to go to a 4-year university that was close to home. Now five years later I now know how important it is to look into the college you want to go to and compare it to others.

Looking at the comparison chart, I noticed there were quite a bit differences between the 4-year colleges in Michigan that I personally did not know about. I noticed how there is a big tuition difference between Kendal College of Art and Design of Ferris State University and Saginaw Valley State University. Kendal College of Art and Design’s tuition and fees cost about $15,000 and Saginaw cost about $8,000 that’s about a 50% difference and I found that to be very surprising.  I never knew before looking at this data chart what a big difference the cost of college would be. I have always assumed four-year Universities would be near the same price.

Something else I noticed on the data chart was Northern Michigan University full-time students get a ThinkPad notebook. That is very reasonable for a student paying about $8,000 in tuitions. I personally think that is a good idea when paying so much for tuitions, some students might not have that extra money to buy any electronics for school because tuition rates are very high.

Comparing schools on a chart like this made me realize how important it is compared colleges before choosing the right one. From now on I would advise any highs school students that have questions about the college to look into something like this.

Using census data to improve stories

There are many data sources out there to help writers enhance their stories. From sport stats to disease control outlets, there are endless options to choose from in order to increase your credibility.

I specifically took interest in the United States Census Bureau‘s website. It was helpful in directing me to my topic of interest and deriving some stats from it.

For example, I’m interested in poverty rates because I wish to open free clinics in poverty-stricken areas when I advance in my medical career. The Census Bureau had useful data to provide to me so I could get a better idea of what I was looking for.

To go more in depth, it gave me data collections that connected the keyword “poverty” to “insurance”.

The Census Bureau has data focusing on health insurance and poverty of American citizens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is easy to retrieve data on anything you’re interested in. I believe the Census Bureau’s website is useful in articles that are informative because it allows us to look at data from a large scope like the amount of Asians in America to specific cases like the following:

Table of the Percentage of People by Type of Health Insurance Coverage by United States Census Bureau.

Looking at data sources like this, it allows me to be more creative and credible with future posts. When in doubt, look for data on the topic your writing about, you’d be surprised at what you find.