Tables!

private	apps	accept	enroll	top10perc	top25perc	f_undergrad	p_undergrad	outstate	room_board	books
Yes	1130	704	322	14	23	1586	326	9996	3090	900
No	3540	2001	1016	24	54	4190	1512	5130	3592	500
Yes	713	661	252	25	44	712	23	15476	3336	400
No	7313	4664	1910	20	63	9940	1035	6806	2540	96
Yes	619	516	219	20	51	1251	767	11208	4124	350
No	12809	10308	3761	24	49	22593	7585	7434	4850	700
Yes	708	334	166	46	74	530	182	8644	3922	500
No	1734	1729	951	12	52	3602	939	3460	2650	450
Yes	2135	1700	491	23	59	1708	689	12000	5920	500
No	7548	6791	3070	25	57	16262	1716	6300	3933	600
Yes	662	513	257	12	30	2074	726	11902	4372	540
Yes	1879	1658	497	36	69	1950	38	13353	4173	540
Yes	761	725	306	21	58	1337	300	10990	3244	600
Yes	948	798	295	42	74	1120	15	11280	4342	400
Yes	627	556	172	16	40	777	538	9925	4135	750
Yes	602	483	206	21	47	958	466	8620	4100	400
Yes	1690	1366	662	30	61	2718	1460	10995	4410	1000
Yes	261	192	111	15	36	453	266	9690	4300	500

College Student Statistics

private: Whether the school is a private school or public school.
apps: How many applications the college got that year.
accept: How many students total were accepted into the college.
Enroll: How many accepted students enrolled in the college.
top10perc: The number of students attending who are in the top 10% in regards to their high school class.
top25perc: The number of students attending who are in the top 25% in regards to their high school class.
f_undergrad: The number of full-time students attending the college.
p_undergrad: The number of part-time students attending the college.
outstate: The tuition for out of state students attending the college.
room_board: Cost of room and board for the college.
books: Estimated annual cost of books for the college.

Closer Look

Number of Applications vs. Whether a School is Private or Not

The total number of applications for private schools is much smaller than the total number of applications for public schools. This is despite the fact that there are more private schools on this table than public schools, meaning there is quite a significant difference in the amount of applicants between the two types of colleges.

Private vs. Not Private School Median Cost for Room and Board

The median cost for the private schools’ room and board, around $4200, is much higher than the median of public schools’ room and board, around $3700. This could be related to the fact that they get less applicants in general, and thus need to charge more to reach the same profits public schools get. If less people go to the school, less people require housing so the cost must be higher.

Private vs. Not Private School Number of Schools with the Number of Students in Top 25% of Their High School

The public schools have a much more concentrated number of students who are within the top 25% of their high school, ranging between 45-65. The range is much broader for the private schools, ranging from 20-75. While this could be due to differences in public schools and private schools, like maybe public schools have stricter rules for acceptance rates, the data is also difficult to analyze here because there are more private schools than public schools. The true cause for this difference is difficult to pinpoint because of the small dataset.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in general, private schools seem to cost higher, despite their lower application rate. This makes sense, lining up with what I know in real life, since public schools get funding from the state, but private schools rely much more on the students for profit. Also, USC is very expensive, so that’s my personal experience as well. The specific student demographics seem to vary more extremely for private schools, however the dataset is not extremely reliable in this aspect.

Resources

College Student Statistics

Closer Look

Conclusion