Linear and Exponential Regression

College Trend Project - Compare exponential and linear regression lines based on college tuition trends. Includes a self-check stations activity! All 100% editable.

It’s that time of year when seniors are receiving their college acceptance letters. Woohoo, so exciting! The school where I work is very small, so we acknowledge each acceptance for every senior at monthly assemblies. It’s so neat to hear all the different schools that our students have been accepted! Often I get a little teary-eyed because I am so proud of them.

This makes it a perfect time for me to whip out the College Trend Project involving linear and exponential lines of best fit. Students research different universities to see if the tuition is trending as a linear or exponential function and predict future tuition costs.
So, if you are looking for a “real world” project that is engaging and meaningful, look no further!

Engaging and meaningful real world algebra project on linear and exponential lines of best fit. Students analyze college tuition trend lines.

Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the following skills:

Gather accurate data and create a table
Graph a scatter plot
Find the linear and exponential line of best fit and graph
Determine which equation (linear or exponential) best models the data
Predict future tuition costs using the line of best fit function
Research background information about each university/college

Of all the projects we do, this is definitely my students’ favorite. They LOVE to research universities they are interested in attending and are shocked by how much the cost has changed over the years. I also incorporate a stations activity, so students can review each other’s projects. The students have fun looking at other universities they may not have thought of or even heard of before. Plus, these student sheets help you grade the projects too, which is a nice perk!

Most students do this project in 9th or 10th grade, so by the time they are seniors, we love to look back and talk about the schools they thought they would attend and how their plans may have changed.

If you are interested in learning more about this project and using it in your class, click on the example below. The project and rubric are 100% editable, so you can adjust the years. Plus, I’ve included two bonus calculator reference sheets (linear regression and exponential regression) to help your students with the line of best fit portion of the project. Oh, and I forgot to mention there is a ton of technology integrated into this project!