AbstractWhen local data are not immediately available, student affairs professionals may wish to consider data from large, representative samples to support institutional decisions. Large‐scale, publicly‐accessible databases, like those provided by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics or Indiana University's Center for Postsecondary Research, can be particularly useful for small, private, liberal arts, minority‐serving institutions (MSIs), like historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs), that may have fewer resources due to long‐standing structural inequities for dedicated assessment staff, research infrastructure, and new data collection. In this article, the author addresses this issue offering practical tips, promising practices, and examples for student affairs assessment.