Program Report 31: New Method for Calculating Student-to-Faculty Ratio

The PAEA Research Department is dedicated to following best practices in data collection and analysis in order to continuously provide members with the most useful and highest quality information possible. As part of this ongoing quest for improvement and innovation in our work, we have changed the method for calculating the student-to-faculty ratio in Program Report 31. This means that the student-to-faculty ratio figures in Program Report 31 and those from previous program reports are not comparable.

Prior to this report, the student-to-faculty ratio was calculated by dividing the total number of students nationally by the total number of core faculty nationally. This year, the ratio we reported was calculated by determining each individual program’s student-to-faculty ratio and then averaging all programs’ student-to-faculty ratios.

This new figure means that the average program has X students per faculty member. Previously, the number meant that on average, the nation had Y students per faculty member. From a statistical standpoint, this method of calculating the national student-to-faculty ratio is superior because it takes into account differences in program size, which — as we know — varies widely. For your convenience, the old and new student-to-faculty ratios are presented below.

	2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015
New method	17.7	18.6	15.3
Old method	17.8	13.0

 

For a more detailed breakdown of student-to-faculty ratios, please see Addendum A in the newly updated Program Report 31. If you have questions or feedback, feel free to reach out to us at research@PAEAonline.org.