Cooperative Insitutional Research Program

The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) is a national longitudinal study of the American higher education system. Established in 1966, the CIRP is the nation's largest and oldest empirical study of higher education, involving data on some 1,800 institutions and over 11 million students. It is regarded as the most comprehensive source of information on college students. The annual report of the CIRP Freshman Survey provides normative data on each year's entering college students.

Mount Holyoke College has participated in the CIRP Freshman Survey annually since 1971. This survey is currently administered in paper format either during Orientation in early September or during the first week of classes.

In Fall 2004, Mount Holyoke also participated in the College Students' Beliefs and Values Survey as a supplement to the annual CIRP Survey. These surveys were presented together in the same format to the students although the results of both sections were tabulated separately.

In Fall 2006, the CIRP Survey was administered via the Web (in coordination with COFHE) for the first time.

Individual-level data for Mount Holyoke students from 1971 to 2003 are archived at the Office of Institutional Research and may be available for research projects. Anyone interested in these data should contact Alison Donta.

Download Surveys

• 2006 MIT ESS CIRP Freshman Survey 
• 2005 CIRP Freshman Survey (PDF)
• 2004 CSBV Freshman Survey (PDF)
• 2004 CIRP Freshman Survey (PDF)
• 2003 CIRP Freshman Survey (PDF)

Download Restricted Data
The following reports are available to Mount Holyoke College faculty and staff who have recieved a password from the Office of Institutional Research. Anyone else who wishes to access this information, please email Alison Donta.

CIRP Surveys

• 2006 MHC and College Comparison CIRP Report (xls)
• 2005 MHC CIRP Report (xls)
• 2005 College Comparison CIRP Report (xls)
• 2004 MHC CIRP Report (xls)
• 2004 College Comparison CIRP Report (xls)
• 2003 MHC CIRP Report (xls)
• 2003 College Comparison CIRP Report (xls)
• 1971-2006: A Chartbook. A Longitudinal Analysis of Key Variables from the CIRP First-Year Survey (PDF) (DOC)
• 1971-2003 MHC CIRP Trends Data (xls)

College Students' Values and Beliefs (CSVB)

• 2004 MHC CSVB Report (xls)
• 2004 College Comparison CSVB Report (xls)