Use of R Squared for Data Collection Purposes?

Hello, I work in state government, and our agency is responsible for collecting data from community colleges to meet state and federal reporting requirements. Currently, we ask the colleges report the number of enrolled students and awards earned for a given fiscal year. The colleges recently complained that reporting enrolled students is not capturing the big picture, since there are students earning awards that are not necessarily enrolled and vice versa. For example, even those without a HS degree/GED are allowed to enroll in community college, but to earn an award they must show proof of HS completion. The college stakeholders make a valid point; however, no data will ever reflect the reality of a situation with 100% accuracy; Would this situation warrant the use of R squared to capture the extent that awards earned is influenced by the number of enrolled students?