Data Availability

Sharing

A variety of SFA-specific data is publicly available on the Office of Strategic Analytics and Institutional Research website. 

Publicly available data is sufficient for most individual research projects. In rare cases, research may require a custom data collection. Individuals can request data by submitting:

  1. An Institutional Research Data Request Form via mySFA (internal only). For more information, visit SAIR’s resources webpage. 

    OR

  2. A Texas Public Information Act request, in writing, to the Office of the General Counsel at ogc@sfasu.edu. For more information, visit General Counsel’s public information webpage. 

Consider the following when requesting data using either of the above methods:

  • For which population is the data requested? (such as applied, admitted, enrolled, and/or graduated students)
  • How will the data be used?
  • Is this data required by an accrediting agency? If yes,  provide the exact instructions and definitions provided by the agency (PDF format preferred).
  • Requested data elements
  • Time period for which data is requested such as fall term, spring term, summer terms, academic year(s), etc.
  • Who will have access to the data?
  • What is the preferred time of completion for this request?
  • Is there any other information about your project that SAIR staff members should consider in filling your data request?

Data sharing expectations

Under FERPA, school officials with legitimate educational interests may be given access to personally identifiable information about students. The National Center for Education Statistics provides best practices for defining a school official and legitimate educational interest:

  1. School Official: a person employed by the agency or school in an administrative, counseling, supervisory, academic, student support services, or research position, or a support person to these positions. It may also include a person employed by or contracted to the agency or school to perform a special task. Identifying a person as a “school official” does not automatically grant him or her unlimited access to education records.
     
  2. Legitimate Educational Interest: The existence of a legitimate educational interest may need to be determined on a case-by-case basis. A legitimate educational interest might include:
    • The information requested is necessary for that official to perform appropriate tasks that are specified in his or her position description or by a contract agreement.
    • The information is to be used within the context of an official agency or school business and not for purposes extraneous to the official’s areas of responsibility or to the agency or school.
    • The information is relevant to the accomplishment of some task or to a determination about the student.
    • The information is to be used consistently with the purposes for which the data are maintained.

The data owner decides the legitimacy of each request for information. If there is any doubt or question regarding the request or the legitimate educational interest, the data owner should not disclose the information without the approval or concurrence of the appropriate agency or school officials or written permission from the student or parent.

Financial Aid Data

The U.S. Department of Education Privacy Technical Assistance Center provides guidance on the use of Financial Aid data for program evaluation and research.

Relevant excerpt(s) noted below:

Section 485B(d)(2) of the HEA prohibits nongovernmental researchers or policy analysts from accessing personally identifiable information from the National Student Loan Data System, while HEA section 485B(d)(5)(B) prohibits the use of NSLDS data for marketing purposes. It is important to note that these prohibitions are applicable to all NSLDS data, including NSLDS data received by institutions via the Institutional Student Information Record.