Iowa State has updated the list of universities it considers peers. How they compare:

Phillip Sitter, Ames Tribune
·4 min read

Iowa State University recently updated the list of institutions across the country it compares itself with — the most substantive update to the list in more than 35 years.

The university's list of 10 peer institutions continues to include Michigan State University, North Carolina State University and Purdue University, but replaced seven other institutions with Colorado State University, Kansas State University, Oklahoma State University, Oregon State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska and Virginia Tech.

The Iowa Board of Regents approved the changes in February.

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"We don’t look at our peers on a day-to-day basis," Rob Schweers, spokesperson for Iowa State's Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost. "Evaluating our programs and operations against peers is a long-range endeavor that helps us assess where we are today and plan for the university’s future."

Schweers said peers were picked based on factors including mission; strategic goals; whether a university is a land-grant institution; how selective admissions are; how many students are enrolled in science, technology, engineering or math majors; research expenditures; tuition rates; and academic program offerings.

Here's a look at Iowa State's new peer institutions and how they compare.

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

  • Undergraduate enrollment: 25,808

  • Estimated cost of attendance for in-state/out-of-state students: $23,472/$39,956

  • Percent of students receiving Pell grants: 18%

  • Overall graduation rate: 76%

  • Total R&D expenditures: $360,275,000

Colorado State University

Fort Collins, Colorado

  • Undergraduate enrollment: 24,954

  • Estimated cost of attendance for in-state/out-of-state students: $30,449/$50,309

  • Percent of students receiving Pell grants: 20%

  • Overall graduation rate: 69%

  • Total R&D expenditures: $447,197,000

Kansas State University

Manhattan, Kansas

  • Undergraduate enrollment: 20,229

  • Estimated cost of attendance for in-state/out-of-state students: $25,986/$42,057

  • Percent of students receiving Pell grants: 18%

  • Overall graduation rate: 68%

  • Total R&D expenditures: $203,846,000

Oklahoma State University

Stillwater, Oklahoma

  • Undergraduate enrollment: 24,577

  • Estimated cost of attendance for in-state/out-of-state students: $26,204/$41,724

  • Percent of students receiving Pell grants: 26%

  • Overall graduation rate: 66%

  • Total R&D expenditures: $198,799,000

Oregon State University

Corvallis, Oregon

  • Undergraduate enrollment: 27,564

  • Estimated cost of attendance for in-state/out-of-state students: $30,343/$51,118

  • Percent of students receiving Pell grants: 22%

  • Overall graduation rate: 68%

  • Total R&D expenditures: $276,955,000

University of Missouri

Columbia, Missouri

  • Undergraduate enrollment: 23,696

  • Estimated cost of attendance for in-state/out-of-state students: $29,221/$49,210

  • Percent of students receiving Pell grants: 21%

  • Overall graduation rate: 73%

  • Total R&D expenditures: $388,779,000

University of Nebraska

Lincoln, Nebraska

  • Undergraduate enrollment: 19,552

  • Estimated cost of attendance for in-state/out-of-state students: $27,082/$44,194

  • Percent of students receiving Pell grants: 26%

  • Overall graduation rate: 66%

  • Total R&D expenditures: $307,083,000

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, Virginia

  • Undergraduate enrollment: 29,760

  • Estimated cost of attendance for in-state/out-of-state students: $32,274/$52,526

  • Percent of students receiving Pell grants: 16%

  • Overall graduation rate: 87%

  • Total R&D expenditures: $542,045,000

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Where is the data from?

Undergraduate enrollment, cost of attendance, Pell grant and graduation rate statistics are from the federal government's Integrated Postsecondary Education System.

Enrollment data is from fall 2021, Pell grant data is from the 2020-2021 school year and cost of attendance data is from the current 2022-2023 school year. The estimated cost of attendance is for on-campus students, before any financial aid. The overall graduation rate is for full-time, first-time undergraduates who began their program in 2015.

Federal Pell grants are awarded to undergraduate students with "exceptional financial need," according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Research and development expenditure data is from 2021 and reported by the National Science Foundation.

Like Iowa State, all the universities listed are land-grant institutions.

The institutions no longer on Iowa State's list of 10 peer institutions — but that remain on a broader U.S. National Center of Education Statistics list sometimes used by publications to rank universities — are The Ohio State University, Penn State University, Texas A&M University, the University of California-Davis, the University of Illinois, the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin.

Phillip Sitter covers education for the Ames Tribune, including Iowa State University and PreK-12 schools in Ames and elsewhere in Story County. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on Twitter @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: What universities are similar to Iowa State in graduation rate, mission?