The following links will open Carleton’s Common Data Set (CDS) files.

The CDS is a large set of basic data, narrative, and other information designed to describe a college or university. The CDS is developed by a set of college guidebook publishers, including the College Board, Peterson’s Guides, and US News and World Report. It is developed with the advice of college and university research, admissions, and financial aid staff through the Higher Education Data Policy Committee (HEDPC) of the Association for Institutional Research (AIR).

The exact content of the CDS changes slightly from year to year, as do the definitions of some items within the CDS. In recent years, each year’s definitions are provided at the end of a given year’s CDS file. For more information, see the Common Data Set Initiative website.

Individual Years

Links open Carleton’s CDS surveys for the given year.

YearYearYearYearYear
2022-232017-182012-132007-082002-03
2021-222016-172011-122006-072001-02
2020-212015-162010-112005-062000-01
2019-202014-152009-102004-051999-00
2018-192013-142008-092003-04