Lyss Welding

Lyss Welding specializes in interpreting national data on student issues and finding data that matters to students.

Lyss began her career assisting research at the University of Chicago for a longitudinal language development study. From there, Lyss joined the Office of Learning and Evaluation at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago to help evaluate the outcomes of children and youth participants in YMCA programs.

Lyss joined BestColleges in 2021, initially reporting on educational pathways in the skilled trades. In 2023, she became the lead editor and analyst overseeing BestColleges' Data Center.

Through the Data Center, Lyss designs and reports on student and school administrator surveys, tracks trends in higher education, and helps inform the ranking methodology for BestColleges' college ranking lists.

Lyss has presented on best practices in data use and collection at conferences such as Data Science for Social Good and Illinois Continuous Quality Improvement.

WGN Radio interviewed Lyss Welding on colleges with the best return on investment. NTV News interviewed Lyss on the why behind the University of Nebraska system budget shortfall. NPR referenced Lyss's research on the college enrollment decline. Forbes cited Lyss's research on college students' political beliefs and voting. Investopedia cited Lyss's research on student loan debt. Council on Foreign Relations cited Lyss's research on student loan debt.

Lyss holds a bachelor's degree in linguistics from the University of Chicago.

Lyss is a former editor for BestColleges.