Why do two charts of Uniform Group Analysis (UGA) display different results?
Question: I was recently looking at the UNICON 2022 aggregate and summary reports and had questions regarding the reported incomes for UGA for 2021-2022. There seem to be 2 sets of numbers listed:
1. From the summary page 8, Revenue- 5-year trends (UGA)
2. From the aggregate page 61, Financial aspects non-degree gross annual income UGA:
Could you please let me why these numbers differ?
Thank you for reaching out. We understand why there could be a misunderstanding when comparing these two charts of Uniform Group Analysis (UGA).
The first chart (page 8 of the summary) comes from a 5-year Uniform Group or those participating in the survey consistently for the past five years. The number of members each year for this group is 64.
The second chart (page 61 of the aggregate report) comes from a 3-year Uniform Group or those participating in the survey consistently for the past three years. The number of members each year for this group is 76.
The simple answer is that these UGA charts span different timeframes -- one includes all of the members who answered this question over the last 3 years while the other spans the last 5 years. The number of schools answering consistently over the last 5 years is smaller than in the last 3 years.
Due to the smaller number of charts in the Executive Summary, we can provide a larger trending span in this report (i.e., a longer trend chart).
The Uniform Group Analysis is utilized to illustrate trends without the influence of data from a school that may have only participated in some of the years. For example, if a few large schools only participated in one of the years, their revenue data would drive the average up for that year providing a skewed display of the actual trend.