1. Since Geotargeting is meant to rank Market Opportunity for a known list of CIPs (program codes), we first need to decide which programs and award levels we would like to rank for. This means that the first sheet we should visit is Select Analysis.
The Geotargeting tool is customized for your specific program areas of focus.
2. In Select Analysis, you need to define which programs and award levels will be used for the market scoring and ranking.
3. On the left, we can create custom CIP code groupings that can be quickly selected. These often include Online programs, Colleges of Education, Programs of Interest, etc.
4. Left-click on any program groups you find relevant for the analysis.
5. Confirm your selection by left-clicking the check mark. Once confirmed, only the CIP codes that fall under the selected custom groups will be available in the next steps.
6. Besides using the program group analysis, all CIP codes loaded into Geotargeting are available to select at the 2/4/6-digit levels.
7. The 4-digit CIP level adds another layer of specificity to the CIP group.
8. The 6-digit level reflects the highest level of detail. There are ~1,500 6-digit CIP codes out there that reflect specific degrees. This is ultimately the list of programs included in the analysis. Check this list even when selecting the custom program groups or 2/4 digit-levels.
9. The final step in Select Analysis is to choose the award level you wish to review. This will tell the system to rank markets for the chosen award level.
10. Here is an example: Left-click on Health Professions to select all CIP codes starting with a 51.
11. Left-click on the check mark to confirm your selection.
12. Now, left-click on the Masters award level to add more detail to our search. We are now asking the tool to rank Health Professions CIP codes specifically at the Masters level.
13. Left-click on the check mark to confirm the chosen award level.
14. Now that we have made our selections, we can shift to the Market Rank page. This will take the CIP(s) and Award Level(s) that we have chosen and offer you a summarization of the Student Demand, Employment, Competitive Intensity, and Opportunity metrics by Market!
15. The highlighted banner will remind you of your current selections.
16. This table is the main reason why this system is referred to as "Geotargeting." Below are the top 300 MSAs in the United States ranked for you to review for your selected programs and award levels.
17. Left-click on the check mark to confirm your selection.
18. Now that we have an individual Market selected, we are free to "unravel" what is contributing to the student demand, competitive intensity, employment, and opportunity percentiles.
19. Left-click on Scorecard to review the details of the selected market.
20. There are several components to the Scorecard, starting with the highlighted row of information. This row, as well as others, are color-coded. Green correlates to good health, yellow to average health, and pink means possibly unhealthy. This market appears healthy!
21. One of the groups of information we aggregate is called Student Demand, and based on the color coding + 53rd percentile, it looks like there is average student demand in this market for the chosen program(s) and award level(s).
22. Here are all of the details that contribute to Student Demand as a whole. These include Google Searches, Enrollments, Completions by modality, and Unit/Percent changes for each.
23. The next group of data is called Competitive Intensity, where the light-green color coding tells us that there may be competitive opportunity for the selected program(s) and award level(s) in this market.
24. This section includes Volume of Competition (campuses with graduates, online in-market institutions, average/median completions) as well as Market Saturation (Google competition index & cost per click).
25. The third group of data is Employment, which is focused on job data related to the selected program(s) and award level(s) in this market. Since it is yellow, we understand that employment opportunities related to our selections seem average.
26. Employment contains job postings Size, Growth, Wages, and Saturation for Direct Prep jobs (the jobs that the students were directly prepared for with their degree). There is also ACS (American Community Survey) data that will shed light on bachelor's degree outcomes.
27. The fourth group of data is Demographic data. Although the color for this section is green, understand that this bucket of information is for reference- there is no scoring being applied here.
28. In this section, we have the Population metrics for the selected Market, and Educational Attainment (residents 25 and older with degrees) as well. These help us understand how large is the population and how has it changed + which degree levels are most prevalent.
29. The final group of data is an Opportunity calculation. The idea is to see if there is a disparity between expected completions and actual completions in the selected market. Since this section is green, there may be some kind of market opportunity here!
30. First, we have Potential Market Completions—metrics that estimate the number of completions a market should be able to support based on the average ratio of completions to each of the five metrics: populations, Google search, enrollment, job postings, and BLS employment.
31. Next, you can see a set of metrics that inform the potential gap in how the market is currently being served.
32. When we are ready to dive into the institutional data/conferral data in the selected market, click on the Competitors tab.
33. In the top left of your screen, you will find a box that reminds you of your current selections. Notice how your program and market selections follow you to each page.
34. The first major component to focus on are called Dimensions. You must select at least one of these to populate the table below.
Dimensions are categorical variables, i.e., things on which we cannot perform math. Some examples of this in real life could be race, sex, educational level, or hair color. In this case, our categories (or dimensions) will be focused on higher education: campus, program code, degree level, state/city, etc.
35. The next major component in order to populate the table are called Metrics. Once you select at least one of these as well as at least one Dimension, the table will populate.
Metrics are continuous variables, i.e., things on which we can perform math. Some real life examples of this might be height, temperature, age, etc. In this case, our Metrics will be degree Completions.
36. Click on Dimensions to review all of the available selections.
37. If we wish to review who is offering the selected programs in this market, click the Campus dimension.
38. Additionally, if we wish to know which award levels those campuses are offering the selected programs at, Click Award Level.
39. Finally, in order to clearly label which Program is being offered (as well as the award level and campus), click on the 6-Digit CIP Code.
40. Confirm your selection.
41. Now that we have three good Dimensions selected, we can append Completions to them. Click on Completions.
42. Click on the 2021 Sum of Completions highlighted. As we get more years of data, they will become available in here!
43. Confirm your selection.
44. Now, we will have a table that follows our selections. Right now, we have asked the system to review who (campus) is offering (completions) what programs (6-digit CIP) at what award levels (Award Level) per our Market/CIP selections.
45. If you click on the column headers in the table, they will sort. In this case, click on 2021 Sum of Completions in order to sort it High to Low/Low to High.
46. Above the table is a visual representation of the last 5 years of Completions in the selected market(s) for the selected program(s).
Both fields come directly from IPEDS, so we see "Distance Education" in this case.
47. The chart on the top left is a bit different- The dark blue refers to on-ground completions by institutions in the selected market. The light blue refers to the volume of students living within the selected market who are taking the selected program(s) online.
This explains why we see Western Governors University (UT) in the table in this case, even though we are currently looking at Lake County IL. There are people who resided in Lake County but graduated with the selected program(s) online with WGU. We refer to this as 'Online in-market'. Notice how there are plenty more Online in-market completions than there are Distance Education? This means there are institutions outside of Lake County that are 'eating the lunch' of the in-market institutions!
Additional Questions? Please contact support at support@graydi.us or register for a Daily Office Hour Session!
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