85 lines
4.2 KiB
Python
85 lines
4.2 KiB
Python
"""Page: About — data sources, methodology, and limitations."""
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from dash import html, dcc
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def layout(_conn=None):
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return html.Div([
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dcc.Markdown("""
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## About This Dashboard
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This dashboard provides administrative cost benchmarking analytics for the
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**University of Delaware** using exclusively **publicly available data**. No
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internal university financial systems, personnel records, or confidential data
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were used.
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### Data Sources
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All data is drawn from public, open-access sources:
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| Source | Publisher | What We Use | Coverage |
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|--------|-----------|-------------|----------|
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| **IPEDS** | U.S. Dept. of Education, NCES | Institutional directory, expenses by function, staffing by occupation, enrollment, endowment, philanthropic gifts | 2005-2024 |
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| **IRS Form 990** | Internal Revenue Service | Executive compensation (Schedule J), filing financials for UD and UD Research Foundation | Tax years 2015-2023 |
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| **BLS CPI-U** | Bureau of Labor Statistics | Consumer Price Index for inflation adjustment (series CUUR0000SA0) | Full history |
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| **UD Staff Directories** | University of Delaware public web pages | Administrative office headcounts (College of Engineering line management, Provost's Office) | Current snapshot |
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### Methodology
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**Executive Compensation** is extracted from IRS Form 990 Schedule J, which
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reports detailed compensation for officers, directors, trustees, and key
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employees of tax-exempt organizations. The University of Delaware (EIN
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516000297) and UD Research Foundation (EIN 516017306) are the filing entities.
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Titles are normalized to canonical roles (President, Provost, VP Finance, etc.)
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using pattern matching. CAGR is computed as compound annual growth rate from
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first to last available year.
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**Administrative Cost Ratios** use IPEDS finance survey data. "Institutional
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support" is the IPEDS functional expense category that most closely
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corresponds to administrative overhead. The admin-to-faculty ratio uses IPEDS
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occupational categories: OCCUPCAT 200 (instructional, research, and public
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service staff) for faculty and OCCUPCAT 300 (management) for administration.
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**Endowment Performance** uses IPEDS F2 (FASB) survey fields for beginning and
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end-of-year endowment values, net investment return, and new gifts. The
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endowment CAGR reflects total value growth including investment returns, new
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gifts, and spending draws. The CIO compensation comparison uses the Chief
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Investment Officer's Schedule J total compensation indexed against endowment
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value. Note: the detailed endowment breakdown (investment return, new gifts,
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other changes) is only available from IPEDS starting in the 2020 reporting
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year. For 2005-2019, only beginning and end-of-year values are reported.
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**Philanthropic Giving** uses IPEDS F2 total private gifts, grants, and
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contracts. The compensation-vs-giving comparison indexes the President and VP
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of Development compensation against total philanthropic revenue.
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**Inflation Adjustment** uses the BLS CPI-U annual average (all items, U.S.
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city average, not seasonally adjusted). CPI-adjusted values are expressed in
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the most recent available year's dollars.
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**Staffing** uses IPEDS Fall Staff survey occupational categories for full-time
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employees only (FTPT=2).
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### Limitations
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- **IRS 990 coverage** depends on e-file availability. Not all years may have
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filings for all entities, and XML schema variations across years can cause
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individual fields to be missing.
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- **IPEDS data** has a reporting lag; the most recent fiscal year may not yet
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be available.
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- **Endowment CAGR** reflects net growth after all inflows and outflows, not
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pure investment return. It is not directly comparable to an investment
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benchmark.
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- **Title normalization** uses pattern matching and may misclassify titles that
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don't follow common naming conventions.
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- **Admin headcount** from web scraping is a point-in-time snapshot and is
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limited to the pages currently targeted (College of Engineering and
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Provost's Office).
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- **Single institution** — this prototype covers the University of Delaware
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only. Peer comparisons are planned for a future phase.
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### License
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This project is released under the MIT License. Copyright (c) 2026 Eric Furst.
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"""),
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], style={"maxWidth": "900px", "margin": "0 auto", "lineHeight": "1.6"})
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