Part A IPEDS 2025-26 through 2026-27 Final_clean_5.14.25_rev_7.9_redline

Part A IPEDS 2025-26 through 2026-27 Final_clean_5.14.25_rev_7.9_redline.pdf

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2024-25 through 2026-27

Part A IPEDS 2025-26 through 2026-27 Final_clean_5.14.25_rev_7.9_redline

OMB: 1850-0582

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Integrated Postsecondary Education Data
System (IPEDS) 2024-25 2025-26 through
2026-27
Supporting Statement Part A
OMB No. 1850-0582 v. 33

Submitted by:
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Institute of Education Sciences
U.S. Department of Education

Table of Contents
Summary .......................................................................................................................................................1
Proposed Changes to the IPEDS Data Collection: 2024-25, 2025-26, 2026-27 .............................................1
Burden Calculations.......................................................................................................................................5
Section A. Justification ..................................................................................................................................5
A.1. Purpose of this Submission .................................................................................................... 5
A.1.a. The Design of IPEDS................................................................................................5
A.1.b. Proposed Modifications .........................................................................................4
A.1.c. Need for Clearance at This Time ............................................................................5
A.1.d. Statutory Requirements for IPEDS Data .................................................................5
A.2. Purpose and Use of IPEDS Information .................................................................................. 6
A.2.a. Institutional Characteristics ...................................................................................6
A.2.b. Completions and Compliance Report ....................................................................7
A.2.c. Enrollment ..............................................................................................................7
A.2.d. Student Financial Aid..............................................................................................9
A.2.e. Graduation Rates....................................................................................................9
A.2.f. Finance ...................................................................................................................9
A.2.g. Human Resources.................................................................................................10
A.2.h. Admissions ...........................................................................................................10
A.2.i. Academic Libraries ...............................................................................................11
A.2.j. Outcome Measures ..............................................................................................11
A.3. Use of Technology and Other Technological Collection Techniques ................................... 11
A.4. Efforts to Identify and Avoid Duplication ............................................................................. 12
A.5. Methods Used to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses/Entities ....................................... 12
A.6. Frequency of Data Collection ............................................................................................... 12
A.7. Special Circumstances .......................................................................................................... 12
A.8. Consultations outside the Agency ........................................................................................ 13
A.9. Paying Respondents ............................................................................................................. 13
A.10. Assurance of Confidentiality................................................................................................. 13
A.11. Justification for Sensitive Questions..................................................................................... 14
A.12. Estimate of Burden ............................................................................................................... 14
A.12.1 Fall Collection .......................................................................................................16
A.12.2 Winter Collection .................................................................................................17
A.12.3 Spring Collection ..................................................................................................18
A.12.3 All Collections .......................................................................................................20
A.13. Estimate of Cost Burden ....................................................................................................... 21
A.14. Cost to the Federal Government .......................................................................................... 21
A.15. Reasons for Change in Burden ............................................................................................. 22
A.16. Publication Plans/Project Schedule ...................................................................................... 22
A.16.a. Schedule of Activities ...........................................................................................22
A.16.b. Distribution Methods ...........................................................................................23
A.17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date ............................................................................... 24
A.18. Exceptions to the Certification ............................................................................................. 24

Deleted: 12

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Tables
Table 1. Summary of Proposed Changes and Sources of Changes, by Survey Component ......................................... 2
Table 2. Response rates for IPEDS preparation time item, 2022-23 ....................................................................... 15
Table 3. Average 2022-23 self-reported preparation hours by experienced and new IPEDS keyholders, by
IPEDS component ............................................................................................................................................ 15
Table 5. Burden hours, Completions .................................................................................................................. 16
Table 6. Burden hours, 12-month Enrollment ..................................................................................................... 16
Table 7. Burden hours, Student Financial Aid ...................................................................................................... 17
Table 8. Burden hours, Outcome Measures ........................................................................................................ 17
Table 9. Burden hours, Graduation Rates ........................................................................................................... 17
Table 10. Burden hours, 200% Graduation Rates ................................................................................................ 18
Table 11. Burden hours, Admissions .................................................................................................................. 18
Table 12. Burden hours, Cost ............................................................................................................................ 18
Table 13. Burden hours, Fall Enrollment ............................................................................................................. 19
Table 14. Burden hours, Finance ....................................................................................................................... 19
Table 16. Summary of estimated response burden by survey component: 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27.............. 21
Table 17. Estimates of burden hours and costs to institutions: 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 .............................. 21
Table 18. IPEDS 2024-25 planned data collection schedule .................................................................................. 22
Table 19. IPEDS 2024-25 data collections communications/follow-up schedule ..................................................... 23

Appendices (separate documents)
Appendix A – Detailed Proposed Changes to Forms by IPEDS Survey Component
Appendix B – IPEDS 2024-25 Communications Package
Appendix C – IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 New Keyholder Handbook
Appendix D – Directed Questions: SFA 2026-27 Changes
Appendix E – Response to 60-day Public Comments

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Summary
The collection, use, and reporting of education data is an integral component of the mission of the U.S. Department
of Education (ED). The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is a web-based data collection
system designed to collect basic data from all postsecondary institutions in the United States and the other
jurisdictions. The IPEDS data collection enables the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to report on key
dimensions of postsecondary education such as enrollments, degrees and other awards earned, tuition and fees,
average net price, student financial aid, graduation rates, student outcomes, revenues and expenditures, faculty
salaries, and staff employed.
The IPEDS web-based data collection system was implemented in 2000-01. In 2022-23, IPEDS collected data from
5,958 postsecondary institutions in the United States and the other jurisdictions that are eligible to participate in Title
IV Federal financial aid programs. All Title IV institutions are required to respond to IPEDS (Section 490 of the Higher
Education Amendments of 1992 [P.L. 102-325]). IPEDS allows other (non-Title IV) institutions to participate on a
voluntary basis; approximately 200 non-Title IV institutions elect to respond each year. Institution closures and
mergers have led to a decrease in the number of institutions in the IPEDS universe over the past few years. Due to
these fluctuations, combined with the addition of new institutions, NCES uses rounded estimates for the number of
institutions in the respondent burden calculations for the upcoming years (estimated 6,000 Title IV institutions plus
200 non-title IV institutions for a total of 6,200 institutions estimated to submit IPEDS data during the 2024-25 202526 through 2026-27 IPEDS data collections). IPEDS data are available to the public through the College Navigator and
IPEDS Use the Data websites.
NCES seeks OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act to continue to collect data on postsecondary
institutions and make changes and clarifications to IPEDS for the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 data collections.
Current approval expires August 31, 2027 (OMB# 1850-0582 v.33). NCES encourages the public to review, at a
minimum, all proposed changes, as well as to respond to the directed questions included in Attachment D.

Proposed Changes to the IPEDS Data Collection: 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27
Background
Proposed changes were suggested by the IPEDS Technical Review Panel (TRP) and feedback from the National
Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC), along with NCES review of data quality reports, changes in other parts
of the government requiring alignment, database improvement needs, and feedback from data reporters at
institutions and other customers. Meetings of the IPEDS TRP are convened by RTI International, the current
contractor for the IPEDS web-based data collection system. In general, the subject areas for the meetings are
determined by legislation, emerging areas of concern in postsecondary education, and an ongoing goal of decreasing
reporting burden while retaining the federal data necessary for use by policy makers and education analysts. Detailed
summaries of each meeting are posted online (https://ipedstrp.rti.org/)and comments on panel suggestions are
solicited. Cumulatively, two meetings of the TRP have impacted the changes included in this clearance package, as
summarized in table 1.
A summary of proposed changes to IPEDS in 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 are outlined in table 1 on the following
page, along with information about the sources of the changes. More detailed information is available in Appendix A
and in the survey forms.
A Note about the Timing and Implementation of the Changes
NCES will implement some proposed changes in 2024-25, but other changes are proposed for the 2025-26 data
collection with a “preview” year starting in 2024-25 to allow institutions more time to prepare to submit the required
data. New items and associated reporting instructions will be available for preview through the Survey Materials
webpage at https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/public/survey-materials/index.

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 1

Table 1. Summary of Proposed Changes and Sources of Changes, by Survey Component
(2024-25 Changes are struck-through as they are no longer applicable)
Part of IPEDS affected

Implementation
Year

Overview of Changes
Removed the Cost of Attendance and Tuition
Elements to the new Cost survey component.

2024-25

Institutional Characteristics
(IC)/Registration/Identification
(ID)

2025-26

Source(s) of Changes
Alignment and quality control.

Combined remaining IC elements with IC Header
Alignment and quality control.
elements.
Moved Dual Enrollment screening question to
the impacted survey component.

Alignment and quality control.

Moved Admissions screening question to the
impacted survey component.

Alignment and quality control.

Removed Academic Libraries Expenses screening Cease of the Academic Libraries
question.
survey component.

Completions (C)

12-month Enrollment (E12)

2024-25

Student Financial Aid (SFA)

Revised the Sex Unknown or Another Gender
than Provided Categories screen and
instructions.

Alignment and quality control.

Added dual enrollment screening question to
E12 (formerly on IC Header).

Alignment and quality control.

Added a new FAQ to better clarify the
relationship between “transfer-in” enrollment
status on the Fall Enrollment (EF) and 12-month
Technical Review Panel #69.
Enrollment (E12) components and the “non-firsttime” cohort on the Outcome Measures (OM)
component.
Removed references to ‘Non-first-time.’

Technical Review Panel #69.

Revised the Sex Unknown or Another Gender
than Provided Categories screen and
instructions.

Alignment and quality control.

Removed the cost of attendance and net price
calculation elements to the new Cost (CST)
survey component.

Alignment and quality control;
feedback from NPEC research.

2025-26

Changed Section 1 of the SFA survey component
Alignment and quality control;
to collect the same student counts and aid
feedback from NPEC research;
amounts for categories and sub-categories of
Technical Review Panel #61.
undergraduate students.

2026-27

No changes currently proposed, please see
Appendix D to respond to questions about
potential future changes.
New survey component encompassing the
elements needed to calculate net price (moved Alignment and quality control;
from IC and SFA) as well as other tuition and fee feedback from NPEC research.
questions from IC and SFA.

Cost (CST)

2024-25

Added questions to determine and make
publicly available the information on whether
postsecondary institutions ask for other financial
information not on the FAFSA form and whether The FAFSA Simplification Act.
they collect asset data even when students
qualify for having their assets exempted from
the federal need analysis as this information
required by the FAFSA Simplification Act.

Table 1. Summary of Proposed Changes and Sources of Changes, by Survey Component
(2024-25 Changes are struck-through as they are no longer applicable)
Part of IPEDS affected

Outcome Measures (OM)

Implementation
Year

Overview of Changes

2024-25

Clarified instructions about including students
who change from non-degree/non-certificateseeking to degree/certificate-seeking at the
IPEDS reporting institution.
Changed the term “Attendance level” to “Cohort
status” in the instructions to improve clarity.
Revised FAQ about “non-first-time”
degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate
students.
Added a new example to FAQ about students
who change from non-degree/non-certificateseeking to degree/certificate-seeking at the
IPEDS reporting institution.
Added additional information to FAQ about
resources for tracking subsequent enrollment.
Revised definition for “Non-first-time student
(undergraduate)” Glossary term to improve
clarity.

Graduation Rates (GR)

2024-25

200% Graduation Rates
(GR200)

2024-25

Source(s) of Changes

Technical Review Panel #69.

Alignment and quality control.
Technical Review Panel #69.

Technical Review Panel #69.
IPEDS Help Desk recommendations
for OM.
Technical Review Panel #69.

Privacy concerns; ability of
Removed the Sex Unknown or Another Gender
institutions to change data
than Provided Categories question.
submitted numerous years prior
No changes

N/A

Revised the Sex Unknown or Another Gender
than Provided Categories screen and
instructions.

Alignment and quality control.

Added clarification about meaning of
“considered”.

Feedback received during the 60—
day public comment period.

Revised FAQ #12 on reporting “legacy status”
for clarity.

Feedback received during the 60—
day public comment period.

Added instructions to the Admissions
Feedback received during the 60—
Considerations screen to describe the options
day public comment period.
and clarify meaning of “considered”.

Admissions (ADM)

Added race/ethnicity for admits and accepts.
Added collection of data for non-first-time
students.
2025-26

TRP on Modernizing the Admissions
Added collection of data for institutions that are Component (June 2021).
open admission.
Added collection of data on early admission and
early decision policies.

Human Resources (HR)

Academic Libraries (AL)

2024-25

2025-26

Human Resources Instructions for Degreegranting Institutions with Less than 15 Full-Time
Staff and Non-degree-granting institutions:
Alignment and quality control.
removed references to New Hires in the
instructions.
Added to Part G4 of instructions: Please report
full year salaries, even if the employee did not Alignment and quality control.
work a full year (regardless of when hired).
Decreasing burden for institutions.
Academic Libraries (AL) survey component is
NCES budgetary and staffing
being removed for 2025-26.
limitations.

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 3

Table 1. Summary of Proposed Changes and Sources of Changes, by Survey Component
(2024-25 Changes are struck-through as they are no longer applicable)
Part of IPEDS affected

Implementation
Year

Overview of Changes

Source(s) of Changes

Added a new FAQ to better clarify the
relationship between “transfer-in” enrollment
status on the Fall Enrollment (EF) and 12-month Technical Review Panel #69.
Enrollment (E12) components and the “nonfirst-time” cohort on the Outcome Measures
(OM) component.
Removed references to ‘Non-first-time.’
Technical Review Panel #69.

Fall Enrollment (EF)

2024-25

Clarified in Part E – First-time Bachelor’s Cohort Alignment and quality control.
Retention Rates (Line E4) that students from
Fall 2023 cohort who completed their
bachelor’s degree as of Fall 2024 are to be
reported as retained.
Added a note to the instructions in Part D to
indicate that high school students enrolled in
college courses for credit should not be
included in any calculations to determine an
institution’s entering class.
Revised the Sex Unknown or Another Gender
than Provided Categories screen and
instructions.

Alignment and quality control.

Clarified for GASB reporting institutions (Part C- Alignment and quality control.
2, Line 10) the exclusion of the private awards
to students where the selection of the student
recipient is not made by institutions.
Finance (F)

2024-25

Replaced references to the State Student
Incentive Grants (SSIG) with ‘Leveraging
Education Assistance Partnerships or LEAP
(formerly State Student Incentive Grant or
SSIG)’.

Alignment and quality control.

Additions to IPEDS Glossary:

Quality control, TRP #69 (October
2023).

Cost (CST), Student aid assets, attendance
status, student level.

Cross-cutting changes

Edits to IPEDS Glossary:
2024-25

Transfer-in student, transfer-out student, nonfirst-time student (undergraduate),
continuing/returning student (undergraduate),
entering students (undergraduate),
undergraduate student.

Detailed descriptions of the proposed changes are provided in Appendix A.

Quality control, TRP #69 (October
2023).

Burden Calculations
The collection of voluntary information on the time it took institutions to submit their IPEDS data was implemented
in the 2012-13 data collection. In 2017, NCES contracted with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to conduct
cognitive interviews with IPEDS administrators to develop better questions about how long it takes to complete
IPEDS data reporting process. Based on findings from that study, NCES updated the questions it asks of institutions
regarding IPEDS reporting burden. More information about this study, updated findings on reported burden, and full
burden calculations based on the information collected in 2022-23 can be found in section A.12 of this document.

Section A. Justification
A.1.

Purpose of this Submission

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is seeking clearance for the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data collections. Current clearance covers the 2024-25
through 2026-27 collections and is due to expire on August 31, 2027. We are requesting to make changes to multiple
survey components and other updates.
A.1.a. The Design of IPEDS
Related Background Information. IPEDS was developed to address technical problems with previous postsecondary
education statistical programs, including the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) and the
Vocational Education Data System (VEDS). IPEDS was designed to collect accurate, reliable, and timely data from the
entire postsecondary universe. Although it was based on the HEGIS model, which provides institution-level data
submitted either directly to NCES by the institution or through a central or state coordinating office, the IPEDS design
allows for varying institution types. The institution-level data collection allows for aggregation of results at various
levels and permits significant controls on data quality to be exercised by NCES.
IPEDS Survey Components. The IPEDS system consists of several survey components that obtain and disseminate
information on who provides postsecondary education (institutions), who participates in it and completes it
(students), what programs are offered and what programs are completed, and the resources involved in the
provision of institutionally based postsecondary education, both human and financial. The components include:
Through 2024-25

2024-25

2025-26 and beyond

Institutional Characteristics (IC)

Completions (C)

Fall Enrollment (EF)

12-month Enrollment (E12)

Admissions (ADM)

Student Financial Aid (SFA)

Graduation Rates (GR)

Graduation Rates 200 (GR200)

Outcome Measures (OM)

Human Resources (HR)

Finance (F)

Academic Libraries (AL)

Cost (CST)

Academic Libraries (AL)

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 5

A.1.b. Proposed Modifications
1. Data Collection Method. We are proposing to continue using the IPEDS web-based data collection for all
components. This collection is organized into three phases based on data availability at the institutions: Fall, Winter,
and Spring.
The Fall collection survey components:





Institutional Characteristics
Completions
12-month Enrollment
Cost Section 1 (Cost of attendance and other tuition and fees)

The Winter and Spring survey components open simultaneously to allow respondents to submit Spring data early if
they wish to do so.
The Winter collection survey components:







Student Financial Aid
Cost Sections 2-3 (Financial aid numbers and net price calculation)
Graduation Rates
Graduation Rates 200
Outcome Measures
Admissions

The Spring collection survey components:





Fall Enrollment
Finance
Human Resources
Academic Libraries (through 2024-25; removed starting 2025-26)

Institutions can enter data manually on a web-based form or upload a file containing the data. In many instances,
prior-year data are provided for comparison purposes. The data are edited as they are entered into the system, and
respondents must either correct any errors identified or enter an explanation to submit their response to NCES. This
process shortens data processing time, increases data quality, and reduces burden on institutions by precluding the
need for repeated callbacks from NCES contractors. The IPEDS data collection is accessible to persons with
disabilities.

2. Data Content. We are proposing considerable additions in data content over the next 3 years. The formats for
reporting IPEDS data are very similar to those used for the 2001-02 through 2024-25 data collection cycles.
We anticipate that the IPEDS Technical Review Panel (TRP) may recommend consideration of additional data items;
however, no items will be added to the IPEDS forms without public comment periods and review and subsequent
approval by OMB. The IPEDS TRP was formed to assist NCES contractors in a variety of ways including: making
suggestions for updating the survey components with items that are more relevant to current postsecondary issues;
discussing universe definitions; suggesting ways IPEDS can better serve the institutions and respondents; discussing
outcomes and products; and discussing current issues. The TRP generally meets two to three times a year to discuss
various topics of interest to the community of IPEDS data providers and data users. How the panels work:









issue/topic is identified;
panelists with expertise on the topic are invited to attend the meeting;
a background paper is prepared by a consultant and distributed to panel members for review prior to
the meeting;
meetings are held and the topics are discussed at length;
discussion and any suggestions are summarized and posted to the IPEDS website;
the contractor accepts comments from the public on the topic;
when comments are received, they are summarized and sent to NCES; and
a document is posted to the website that includes a summary of comments and NCES/IPEDS’ intent
to respond and/or implement actions because of the comments.

A.1.c. Need for Clearance at This Time
Clearance helps ensure that IPEDS maintains a consistent set of data items to collect data from the various
institutions at the needed time and with the needed detail. This is important because the utility and quality of data
collected in one survey component in some cases are dependent upon, and in all cases are enhanced by, data
collected in other survey components. Internal consistency and the inherent relationships among IPEDS survey
components also permit reliability indicators to be established for many of the IPEDS data elements. Having the
capability for assessing reliability on an ongoing basis and, in turn, being able to address individual and systemic
problems as they occur will result in significantly better postsecondary education data. Moreover, the concept of a
data system rather than a series of standalone, independent survey components, enables elimination of duplication
of effort, thereby reducing response burden. The web-based data collection system will continue to allow NCES to
comply with the Higher Education Act (HEA), which required the redesign of the data collection system to improve
the timeliness and quality of IPEDS data by increasing the efficiency of data collection.
Additionally, clearance will update the IPEDS burden estimates, reflecting revisions resulting from institutional
estimates that were submitted voluntarily during the 2022-23 data collection.
A.1.d. Statutory Requirements for IPEDS Data
General Mandate. IPEDS, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, plays a major role in responding
to the Center's Congressional mandate under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. §9573).
Mandatory Reporting for Institutions with Program Participation Agreements. The completion of all IPEDS surveys,
in a timely and accurate manner, is mandatory for all institutions that participate in or are applicants for participation
in any federal financial assistance program authorized by Title IV of the HEA of 1965, as amended. The completion of
the surveys is mandated by 20 USC 1094, Section 487(a)(17) and 34 CFR 668.14(b)(19).
Vocational Education Data. IPEDS responds to certain of the requirements pursuant to Section 421(a)(1) of the Carl
D. Perkins Vocational Education Act. The data related to vocational program completions are collected from those
postsecondary institutions known to provide occupationally specific vocational education.
Data on Race/Ethnicity and Sex of Students. The collection and reporting of racial/ethnic data on students and
completers are mandatory for all institutions that receive, are applicants for, or expect to be applicants for federal
financial assistance as defined in the Department of Education (ED) regulations implementing Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (34 CFR 100.13), or defined in any ED regulation implementing Title IX of the Education

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 5

Amendments Act of 1972. NCES has implemented the new reporting requirements for race/ethnicity, and use of the
new race/ethnicity aggregate reporting categories was mandatory as of the collection of 2010-11 data.
Data on Race/Ethnicity and Sex of Staff. The collection and reporting of racial/ethnic data on the Human Resources
(HR) component are mandatory for all institutions that receive, are applicants for, or expect to be applicants for
federal financial assistance as defined in the ED regulations implementing Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (34
CFR 100.12). The collection of data are also mandated by Public Law 88-352, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as
amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 (29 CFR 1602, subparts O, P, and Q).
Student Right-to-Know. Sections 668.41, 668.45, and 668.48 of the Student Assistance General Provision were
amended to implement the Student Right-to-Know Act, as amended by the Higher Education Amendments of 1991
and further by the Higher Education Technical Amendments of 1993 and 1999. These final regulations require an
institution that participates in any student financial assistance program under Title IV of the HEA of 1965, as
amended, to disclose information about graduation or completion rates to current and prospective students. Data
must also be reported to the Secretary of Education; this is accomplished through the IPEDS Graduation Rates (GR)
survey component.
Consumer Information. Section 101 of the HEA amendments of 1965 (P.L. 105-244) requires that NCES collect the
following information from institutions of higher education: tuition and fees; cost of attendance; average amount of
financial assistance received by type of aid, and the number of students receiving each type.
Section 132 of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-315) requires that ED “make publicly available
on the College Navigator website, in simple and understandable terms,” information regarding enrollments, degree
completions, admissions, net price, college costs, students with disabilities, graduation rates, and many additional
consumer information items.

A.2.

Purpose and Use of IPEDS Information

IPEDS provides NCES with the basic data needed to describe the size of the postsecondary enterprise in terms of
students enrolled, staff employed, dollars expended, and degrees earned. The IPEDS universe also provides the
institutional sampling frame used in most other postsecondary surveys such as the National Postsecondary Student
Aid Study (NPSAS). Each of these surveys uses the IPEDS institutional universe for its first stage sample and relies on
IPEDS data on enrollment, completions, or staff to weight its second stage sample.
In addition to use within NCES and other areas of ED, IPEDS data are heavily relied on by Congress, other federal
agencies, state governments, education providers, professional associations, private businesses, media, military, and
interested individuals. Finally, IPEDS data are used in the IPEDS Data Feedback Reports, annual reports that are sent
to all postsecondary institutions. They contain data and figures comparing each institution to a group of
“comparison” institutions, using a variety of IPEDS data variables and derived variables, and are electronically mailed
to the Chief Executive Officer of each institution. The reports serve as a means of highlighting the utility of IPEDS
data, as well as providing comparative data for institutions to use in meeting their institutional goals relative to their
postsecondary “peers.”
Additional uses of IPEDS data, specific to individual survey components, include those listed below.
A.2.a. Institutional Characteristics
Institutional Characteristics (IC) data are the foundation of the entire IPEDS system. These data elements constitute
the primary information that is necessary to interrelate and understand other descriptive kinds of statistical data
about education, such as enrollments, staff, graduates, and finance. The information is essential to: (1) establishing
the universe control file for IPEDS and (2) developing data collection sampling frames. The IPEDS universe is used as
the sampling frame for many other NCES studies, including the NPSAS.
In addition to the need for these data within NCES and ED (Title III and HEA programs and the Office for Civil Rights
use data from IPEDS), other federal agencies rely on the database and the resulting list of postsecondary institutions.
NCES has utilized IPEDS data in fulfilling past information requests from the Air Force; the Immigration and
Naturalization Service; the Department of Defense (including recruiting offices of all Armed Services); the
Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Labor; the National Science Foundation; the Veterans
Administration; the Social Security Administration; EEOC; and members of Congress. NCES continues to fulfill
6

information requests as they are received, and has also significantly increased the volume of IPEDS data available on
its public websites, allowing end users increased access to current and historic IPEDS data.
Additionally, NCES makes available on College Navigator data provided by the Office of Postsecondary Education
(OPE) and the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) for the purpose of disseminating relevant information to
consumers. These enhancements include information on accreditation, varsity athletics, cohort default rates, 90/10
data, and campus security data.
A.2.b. Completions and Compliance Report
IPEDS information on the number of students who complete a postsecondary education program by type of program
and level of award constitutes the only national source of information on the availability and location of highly
trained manpower. Types of programs are categorized according to the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP).
The CIP is a taxonomic coding scheme that contains titles and descriptions of instructional programs, primarily at the
postsecondary level. Business and industry, the military, and other groups that need to recruit individuals with
particular skills use these data extensively. The data also help satisfy the mandate in the Carl D. Perkins Vocational
Education Act for information on completions in postsecondary vocational education programs.
Information on completions in postsecondary education programs has been used extensively, as in the following
examples.

















ED and OPE use these data to respond to public inquiries regarding degrees awarded by different
types of institutions, and for reference guides in preparation for budget justifications.
The Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) use these data in preparing the
Occupational Outlook Handbook and in matching projections of labor supply and demand.
State Occupational Information Coordinating Committees also use these data on an annual basis for
assisting citizens in career planning and in making state and local area estimates of trained
manpower.
The Congressional Research Service and Library of Congress use these data to supply information to
members of Congress to assist them in assessing the changing and developing needs of the nation
with respect to manpower and postsecondary education.
The Department of Agriculture and Office of Higher Education Programs use these data to include
program data on agriculture and home economics in various reports.
The National Science Foundation and Division of Science Resource Studies rely heavily on IPEDS
Completions survey data, in conjunction with their own surveys, to study degree production,
particularly in science, mathematics, and engineering.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) uses these data to provide guidance to other
federal agencies in its recruiting efforts.
The Office for Civil Rights (Department of Education) uses these data in reviewing institutional
compliance with antidiscrimination statutes.
The Department of Justice uses these data when court suits are brought in civil rights cases.
The Department of Defense uses these data to identify institutions training significant numbers of
individuals in occupational programs, particularly those with military-related skills.
Private firms use these data for recruiting trained manpower and large corporations use the
racial/ethnic completions data to identify the potential pool of new employees for equal opportunity
employment (EEO) requirements.
States also use data by program to compare changes in degree patterns among states and for
manpower planning and projections.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has used these data in developing its
institutional classification schemes.

A.2.c. Enrollment
Enrollment is probably the most basic parameter in postsecondary education because it indicates access to an
educational experience that is potentially both economically and socially advantageous. Because enrollment patterns

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 7

differ greatly among the various types of postsecondary institutions, there is a need for both different measures of
enrollment and several indicators of access. Aspects of enrollment data collection are described below.
1. Fall Enrollment and Compliance Report. Fall enrollment is the traditional measure of student access to
higher education, and IPEDS continues this important statistical series. ED uses fall enrollment data in program
planning and for setting funding allocation standards for such legislatively controlled programs as the College WorkStudy Program and others. NCES collects fall enrollment data through this component of IPEDS to update its annual
college projections, its mandated annual Condition of Education report, and the Digest of Education Statistics. The
Bureau of the Census, the National Science Foundation, and most state education agencies depend heavily on annual
fall enrollment data for such uses as economic and financial planning, manpower forecasting, and policy formulation.
Educational and professional associations also use IPEDS enrollment data for a wide variety of purposes. The
race/ethnicity and sex data by level are necessary for the Office for Civil Rights (ED) to perform functions mandated
by Title VI and Title IX.
2. Residence of First-Time Students (required in even-numbered years). IPEDS collects data on the counts of
first-time freshmen by state of residence, including data on the number who graduated from high school the
previous year. These data are used to monitor the flow of students across state lines and calculate college-going
rates by state. The primary purpose of these data is to provide states with more complete information about the
attendance of their residents in college than states can collect in their own surveys. States can then use resulting
data to estimate the college-going rates of their high school graduates, examine problems caused by excessive
student out-migration or in-migration, and determine the types of institutions that attract their citizens to other
states. Such data are critical for postsecondary education planning at the state level.
States and various associations have made it clear that only a national agency can collect the data needed to examine
residence and migration patterns. There are a number of national- and state-level issues that can be addressed by
collecting and disseminating residence data. These needs include the following:





planning/budgeting for institutional support (public and private);
planning for shifting institutional demand by region, state, and institution;
monitoring or establishing out-of-state quotas; and
reassessing state support to private institutions serving large numbers of in-state students.

3. Age Data (required in odd-numbered years). In 1987, NCES began collecting fall enrollment by age of
student on a biennial basis. These data offer insight into the relationship between the changing demographics of
college-going cohorts and enrollment in different types of postsecondary institutions; they permit detailed
projections of enrollment by institutional type and by age. Because a student's dependency status is strongly related
to age, the data can also be used to provide estimates of the number of independent/dependent students attending
a postsecondary institution, which should be useful in financial aid modeling and projections. In addition, the
Department of Defense U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command has indicated a strong need for these data to
identify institutions with a sufficient number of recruitment-age students to make recruiting efforts cost effective.
4. Total Entering Class. NCES began collecting total entering class data in the 2002-03 data collection, based on
a recommendation from the TRP. These data are collected to address concerns that the cohort used by the GR
component is not representative of an institution’s entering class because the GR cohort is composed only of fulltime, first-time students. The collection of a total entering class allows for a more accurate picture of incoming
students, and permits the calculation of the fall GR cohort as a proportion of the total entering student body.
5. Retention Rates. NCES began collecting retention rates data in the 2003-04 data collection, based on a need
identified by the TRP. Retention rates data provide an indicator of postsecondary performance that is broader in
scope than completions data or graduation rates data, and is a critical measure of success as viewed by many 2-year
and 4-year institutions.
6. Unduplicated 12-month Head Count. The collection of unduplicated head count data for students enrolled
over a 12-month period provides a way of looking at enrollment that is especially valuable for institutions that utilize
nontraditional calendar systems and institutions that offer short programs. An enrollment figure that encompasses
an entire year provides a more complete picture of the services being provided by these schools.
8

7. Instructional Activity. The collection of instructional activity data, as measured in total credit and/or clock
hours delivered by institutions during a 12-month period, provides an overall indicator of the scope of educational
activity provided by the institutions. NCES uses the total instructional activity measure as a basis for computing a
total student full-time equivalency (FTE). FTE is commonly used by postsecondary institutions as a measure of size
and performance, and is one of the best available indicators for the measurement of educational endeavors.
A.2.d Cost
The Cost survey component, which pulls elements from the Institutional Characteristics and Student Financial Aid
survey components, is being added for 2024-25 in order to simplify the reporting for institutions. This component
collects data on cost of attendance, other tuition and fees, and net price of attendance and the data are made
available through College Navigator, a web-based college search tool (see https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/) and
the College Scorecard (https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/). The calculation of institutional net prices is required by the
Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008.
1. In Phase 1 (during the fall collection), institutions will be able to report any data, but must complete the
screening questions and Section 1 (cost and tuition questions). This will allow NCES to update cost data on
the College Navigator on the same schedule as currently updated.
2. In Phase 2, institutions must complete Sections 2 – 3 (data for net price calculations). This is the same
collection period that these data have historically been collected in.
A.2.e. Student Financial Aid
The Student Financial Aid component was added to IPEDS to respond to the request for information on the cost and
price of higher education in the Higher Education Amendments of 1998. Data collected through this survey
component allow prospective students to compare average amounts of financial aid received for particular student
types that is received across institutions.
A.2.f.

Graduation Rates

The Graduation Rates (GR) survey component provides a structure for calculating comparable graduation rate
statistics across institutions. The data also provide much needed information to researchers as an outcome measure
of institutional productivity, and offer insight into the relationship between the changing demographics of collegegoing cohorts within different types of institutions. The information collected in this component is used by
institutions to help satisfy regulations regarding the Student Right-to-Know Act to disclose 150 percent of normal
time graduation rates. The GR200 component collects consumer information on 200 percent graduation rates to
meet requirements in the HEOA.
A.2.g. Finance
Finance data are needed for reporting and projecting the revenues and expenditures of a national activity
representing a significant component of the gross national product (GNP). To enhance the comparability and utility of
the finance data, IPEDS redesigned the data collection instruments to conform to the accounting standards governing
both public and private institutions.
ED’s Title III (Institutional Aid) grant program relies on the finance data to help determine whether an applicant
college or university is eligible to receive a grant. These data are needed annually. The GAO published a report,
Postsecondary Education Financial Trends in Public and Private Nonprofit Institutions for the U.S. Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, that used IPEDS finance data. The National Science Foundation is a regular
user of IPEDS finance data. The Bureau of the Census relies on this form to collect data required in its census of
governments. NCES and the Census Bureau worked closely to ensure that one instrument satisfied the needs of both
agencies. The Bureau of Economic Analysis also contributed significantly to this endeavor. OMB asked NCES to collect
these data because the Bureau's survey universe was a subset of the IPEDS universe. The Bureau of the Census also
uses the data from other parts of the survey to:



develop estimates of state and local governments' finances to provide to the Bureau of Economic
Analysis for calculation of the GNP; and
collect supplemental data that their census of governments does not collect.
PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 9

The BLS and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service are secondary users of NCES/Census finance data. The
Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has used finance data to determine states' or institutions' compliance with
antidiscrimination laws. From these data, OCR was able to determine whether predominantly black, publicly
controlled institutions were being discriminated against through funding decisions made by state boards of higher
education. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce uses financial statistics to prepare
totals and forecasts on total nonfarm expenditures for structures and equipment, and to develop GNP accounts.
Increasing numbers of state agencies use the NCES Finance report to assemble data to plan and evaluate their higher
education policies.
Among associations, the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association for Institutional Research, the
Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and The Delta Cost Project are
frequent users of Finance data. Researchers from these and other organizations use the data to assess the economic
future of the nation's colleges and universities.
A.2.h. Human Resources
HR data provide another basic measure of postsecondary education because they indicate the extent of the human
infrastructure and knowledge base represented at institutions of higher learning. Because the size and type of
staffing patterns vary greatly across postsecondary education, there is a need to measure different aspects of the
human capital in postsecondary institutions.
The HR section that collects race, ethnicity, and sex data (previously referred to as the fall staff section) replaces the
former EEO-6 survey and is used by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in place of its data
collection efforts. Under Public Law 88-352, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal
Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, all institutions of higher education that have 15 or more (full-time) employees
are required to keep records and to make such reports biennially to EEOC. NCES now collects the data and provides
them to EEOC as required in its regulations. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs (OFCCP) of the Department of Labor also use these data. The filing of race, ethnicity, and sex
data on staff is mandated under Section 709(c) of Title VII.
The data provide information on staffing levels at the institutions for various occupational categories, and are used
extensively in peer institution analysis, manpower utilization studies, and in examining the health of the institutions.
Good-quality data on racial/ethnic composition of postsecondary employees are useful to EEOC and OCR for
monitoring compliance with Title VII.
On an annual basis, institutions also classify all of their employees by full- or part-time status, faculty status, and
occupational category; in addition, medical school staff are reported separately.
Salary outlays for full-time instructional staff and other full-time employees are also collected annually. These data
are used by:



the ED Grants and Contracts Service, which makes frequent use of the salary data collected by NCES
to set standards for expected salary outlays during grants and contracts negotiations processes; and
the BLS, Department of Labor, which includes salary data when developing its Occupational Outlook
Handbook.

The House Labor and Human Resources Committee, the OCR, and the Bureau of the Census have requested trend
data. State agencies rely on salary data to determine budgets for their state-supported institutions and to make
comparative studies with other states.
Institutions use salary data to establish their own compensation packages, and institution officials study the
compensation packages offered by their peers and/or competitors prior to developing their salary schedules.
A.2.i.

Admissions

The Admissions survey component was broken out from the Institutional Characteristics survey component starting
with the 2014-15 data collection. This change was proposed by the TRP so that all institutions would report data for
10

the most recent Fall period. As a result, admissions data are less confusing for IPEDS data users, given that only one
reporting period is represented in each data file. Additionally, the change enabled admissions data to be used for the
Trend Generator, and data on College Navigator will represent the same Fall period.
Starting in 2025-26, the Admissions survey component will be updated to collect more information on the admissions
process.
A.2.j.

Academic Libraries (through 2024-25)

The Academic Libraries (AL) survey component collects data on academic libraries at postsecondary institutions. Due
to staffing and cost requirements, the AL survey component is being retired after the 2024-25 data collection.
A.2.k. Outcome Measures
The Outcome Measures (OM) survey component was added as the result of two TRPs (e.g., #37 and #40) and based
on recommendations provided by the ED Committee on Student Success, which concluded its work in 2011. The first
collection of this survey component was during the 2015-16 data collection year. This component improved the
quality and availability of student success data for consumers, institutions, policymakers, and researchers. It does so
by making data available for student outcomes going beyond the historical limitation of the cohort of traditional fulltime, first-time students.
Since its introduction into IPEDS, NCES has added the collection of data for students receiving Pell awards and
changed from a fall cohort to a 12-month cohort to collect outcomes on more students.

A.3.

Use of Technology and Other Technological Collection Techniques

The IPEDS web-based data collection uses advanced technology to reduce respondent burden and to improve the
timeliness and quality of the reported data. NCES has taken several actions to facilitate the cooperation of
postsecondary institutions responding to IPEDS. These actions include the following:





Developing a fully automated web-based data collection for all survey components of IPEDS data. The
data collection is organized into three modules, taking full advantage of data availability schedules.
Customizing survey components based on screening information so that institutions are prompted to
respond only to those items relevant to their institution. For example, if a private institution does not
have a differential tuition charge for out-of-state students, they will be prompted for one tuition
charge. Additionally, many data items (answered previously) will be available to the respondent on
the collection instrument, so that only those items that have actually changed since the previous
report need to be completed or updated.
Allowing for direct data entry as well as file upload and batch import. Edit checks and data
verification procedures are built into the system, thus improving the efficiency of data collection by
resolving errors at the time of data submission. Processing time and cost are thus reduced. All
administrative functions are provided through the Web, including nonresponse follow up,
distribution of passwords, and other activities and correspondence. IPEDS also provides a Help Desk,
which is available to respondents during and after data collection to respond to questions, assist with
data entry and error resolution, and provide general assistance with many other types of requests.
NCES will continue to encourage respondents to prepare IPEDS data in a format for uploading to the
web-based collection instrument by providing detailed file specifications and instructions as well as
"do's" and "don'ts" for data submission. Two upload formats are available for institutions to use:
fixed length and key value pair.
Improving timeliness of data release. The system is designed to migrate reported/edited data to an
SQL server as soon as the administrative functions have been performed and NCES has cleared the
data. Institutions whose data have been migrated to the SQL server have immediate access to data
for other institutions that have also completed the process through the IPEDS Data Center. This
means that data may be available before survey closeout for peer analysis. National data will become
available within a matter of months after closeout.
Enabling institutions to provide data to their state and to NCES simultaneously. NCES works closely
with state coordinators, many of whom submit IPEDS reports for institutions in their state.
PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 11

Increasingly, states obtain data from institutions electronically on a student unit record basis (data
per student). Other states collect institutional data using either IPEDS forms or their own state forms,
which are compatible with IPEDS. Data are then extracted from the state database in the IPEDS
format and file uploaded to the collection system. Thus, institutions can provide data to their state
and to NCES simultaneously.

A.4.

Efforts to Identify and Avoid Duplication

NCES devotes considerable effort to ensure that IPEDS does not duplicate other data collection activities involving
postsecondary education providers. In developing IPEDS, NCES continues to assess the data collection efforts of other
federal agencies (e.g., National Science Foundation, Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Census
Bureau, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Veterans Administration) through an
examination of their forms. In addition, NCES has in-depth discussions with the Department of Labor, as well as other
Education Department offices (e.g., OCR, FSA, OPE, OVAE) to ascertain their needs for data and the role IPEDS can
play in meeting those needs. Through meetings, workshops, and TRPs, NCES works closely with other stakeholders
including the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), the National Association of College and University
Business Officers (NACUBO), the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO),
the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the National Association of Independent Colleges and
Universities (NAICU), the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the American Council on Education
(ACE), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), regional education organizations such as
the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and the Southern Regional Education Board
(SREB), and others. Duplication is avoided as various federal agencies, groups within ED, and other agency
representatives share access to IPEDS data.

A.5.

Methods Used to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses/Entities

Certain providers of postsecondary education included in the IPEDS universe of Title IV eligible institutions—
operators of proprietary (private for-profit) schools—are small businesses. NCES has taken several actions to reduce
reporting burden for these entities. These actions include: requesting a reduced set of data items from schools
offering only certificates below the baccalaureate level, maintaining an open position on the National Postsecondary
Education Cooperative for proprietary institutions and the national proprietary representative, and ensuring
inclusion of proprietary school representatives at Technical Review Panels to ensure the appropriateness of data
being requested and the feasibility of collecting it. In addition, IPEDS has focused outreach and training efforts for
small institutions.

A.6.

Frequency of Data Collection

The statutory requirements as described in A.1.d. require that IPEDS data are reported on an annual basis. If the
IPEDS collection is not conducted, a number of legal requirements will not be met as a majority of the items collected
by IPEDS are required by law (general information presented in A.1.d., for more detailed information see the IPEDS
publication The History and Origins of Survey Items for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (2023
Update) available at https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/pdf/NPEC/data/The-History-and-Origins-of-Survey-Items.pdf.
The survey components proposed for this request are those that will be collected beginning with the Fall 2024 2025
collection and extending through the Spring 2027 collection, which will cover three full survey cycles.

A.7.

Special Circumstances

In March 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No.
15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15) and published
the revised SPD15 standard in the Federal Register (89 FR 22182). The present IPEDS 2024-25 through 2026-27
package currently uses race and ethnicity categories as described in the 1997 SPD 15 standards; see p. 5 of the 12month Enrollment Package for an example of how this data has historically been collected. The Department aims to
implement the revised SPD 15 standards in the future in accordance with the Department’s yet-to-be-published
Action Plan under development.

Deleted: is not compliant with the new standard and continues to
Deleted: NCES and IPEDS
Deleted: beginning in the 2027-28 data collection for current year
survey components (i.e., Fall Enrollment and Human Resources)
and in the 2028-29 data collection for prior year(s) survey
components (i.e., Completions, 12-month Enrollment, and
Graduation Rates).…

Because IPEDS data is reported in aggregate by institutions, IPEDS and NCES are reliant on the ability of those thirdparty recordkeepers to report their data in compliance with SPD 15. In Appendix B of this package (pp. B-82-83) is a
draft letter that can potentially be sent to institutions, if/when desired, advising them of this change and the timeline
for implementation and recommending that institutions begin their own planning for approaches that will allow
them to report this data by the timeframe outlined above.

A.8.

Consultations outside the Agency

IPEDS was developed in conjunction with providers and users of postsecondary education data. Continuing a pattern
that began with the initial development of the project in 1983, opportunities are taken throughout the year to
discuss the project with data respondents, Federal agencies, data users, and any other interested parties.
NCES has a strong relationship with many stakeholder groups that provide feedback on proposals for IPEDS.
Identified below are organizations that have played a major consultative role:


An IPEDS Technical Review Panel (TRP) was formed to assist in survey revisions and to discuss universe
definitions. Representatives include state coordinators, federal representatives, educational association
members, and institutional researchers and registrars from all postsecondary education sectors.



The National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) is responsible for IPEDS research and
development activities. NPEC's mission is to promote the quality, comparability, and utility of postsecondary
data and information that support policy development at the federal, state, and institution levels. The NPEC
IPEDS R&D Panel achieves this goal by developing an R&D agenda for IPEDS, identifying topics that will help
improve the quality, comparability, and utility of IPEDS data for the postsecondary education community,
consumers, and policymakers, as well as providing expertise to NCES on related IPEDS R&D projects.



IPEDS workshops and presentations are made at various conferences and annual or regional meetings of
educational and professional associations. IPEDS staff discuss proposed modifications or problem areas and
receive input from the data providers as part of the data collection training.



The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), the American Library Association (ALA), and the
Association of Research Libraries (ARL) have a joint advisory task force that reaches out to IPEDS regularly
with suggestions. NCES will work with this task force through the 2024-25 collection as needed.



In November 2023, IPEDS formed the IPEDS Finance Working Group with the mission to enhance the quality,
comparability, and use of data collected in the IPEDS Finance survey component. The group brings together
the experts who represent the higher education community, stakeholders, and other interested parties with
the purpose to develop guidance and recommendations on ways to improve the Finance survey component.

A.9.

Paying Respondents

There are no payments or gifts offered to respondents.

A.10. Assurance of Confidentiality
IPEDS data are not collected under any pledge of confidentiality.
The PRA language for IPEDS is made available on the institutional burden page for the data collection. The statement
for the 2022-23 collection appears as follows (it is updated annually to reflect approval by OMB of the new
respondent burden hour estimates):
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information
unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 18500582.

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 13

Deleted: will be
Deleted: . In that same letter, NCES refers to commissioned
background research that will help guide the implementation of the
new standards. That research is expected to be completed later this
year, and NCES plans to hold a Technical Review Panel (TRP) with
stakeholders in late 2024 or early 2025 to ensure that institutions
are provided the information they need to comply with reporting
requirements and report high quality data to IPEDS. The research
and TRP will help to guide final decisions about how IPEDS will be
compliant in advance of the March 28, 2029 deadline.

A.11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
These collections contain no questions of a sensitive nature.

A.12. Estimate of Burden
In 2017, NCES contracted with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to interview administrators from
postsecondary institutions to better understand the time use and burden for institutions participating in IPEDS data
collection. To better understand an institution’s time and burden, AIR conducted two rounds of cognitive interviews
with administrators from 48 postsecondary institutions. The first round of interviews was designed to gain a better
understanding of respondents’ time use and burden for completing the 12 IPEDS survey components. Questions in
the Round 1 interviews were intended to explore respondents’ understanding of the current IPEDS time use and
burden question—particularly, what respondents include and exclude from their calculation when answering the
question—to determine whether they are providing the information that the question was designed to extract.
Results from the Round 1 interviews and observations suggested that respondents were not consistent in how they
report time use and burden related to completing IPEDS survey components. Based on these findings, a new series of
time use and burden questions were drafted and tested during a second round of cognitive interviews. Round 2
interviews included questions regarding the initial collection of the data that are reported to IPEDS, the number of
people involved in the data collection and reporting process, the steps making up the data collection and reporting
process, and the initial purpose of the data collection.
Based on recommendations from the AIR report, NCES revised the way in which it enquires about burden to provide
more clarity to respondents on what time should be included. Burden reporting screen:
This survey component was prepared by:
RB

Keyholder

SFA Contact

HR Contact

Finance Contact

Academic Library Contact

Other

Name:

Email: RV
How many staff from your institutions were involved in the data collection and reporting process of this survey component?
Number of Staff (including yourself)

How many hours did you and others from your institution only spend on each of the steps below when responding to this survey
component?
Exclude the hours spent collecting data for state and other reporting purposes.
Collecting Data
Revising Data to Match
Revising and Locking
Staff member
Entering Data
Needed
IPEDS Requirements
Data
Your office

RV (in hours)

Other offices

RV (in hours)

The new burden estimates for the IPEDS data collection take into consideration the information on reporting burden
that was collected during the 2022-23 IPEDS using the burden questions above.
Table 2. Response rates for IPEDS preparation time item, 2022-23
Experienced keyholders
Degree-granting institutions
Non-degree-granting institutions
All institutions

New keyholders

84.5%
88.2%
85.6%

15.5%
77.39%
14.4%

NCES uses the keyholder reported times to develop burden estimates. The preparation times reported by keyholders
support the observation that it takes new keyholders longer to prepare and submit their IPEDS survey components.
Table 3 shows, for each IPEDS survey component and for experienced vs. new keyholders, the average 2022-23 selfreported preparation hours per institution.
Table 3. Average 2022-23 self-reported preparation hours by experienced and new IPEDS keyholders, by IPEDS component

IPEDS
component
IC
C
E12
SFA
OM
GR
GR200
ADM
EF
F
HR
AL

Experienced keyholders
New keyholders
Average 2022-23
Average 2022-23
self-reported
Estimated
Estimated total
self-reported
Estimated
Estimated total
Total number of
preparation
number of
preparation
preparation
number of
preparation
respondents
hours per
respondents
hours*
hours per
respondents
hours*
respondent
respondent
6020
3.26
4,515
25067
4.03
1505
2496
6020
6.47
4,515
21040
7.35
1505
3956
7.16
6009
4,507
25931
8.11
1502
4649
8.95
5888
4,416
32917
9.19
1472
5411
8.91
3656
2,742
17671
10.11
914
3599
3.13
5358
4,019
19800
7.40
1339
3535
3.48
5016
3,762
10222
3.77
1254
1631
3.56
1995
1,496
4253
4.09
499
891
7.19
5982
4,487
25157
10.26
1495
5818
9.40
5833
4,375
37534
10.95
1458
6539
5978
8.21
4,484
31255
11.39
1494
6791
5.45
3748
2,811
14303
5.93
937
2823

* Note: Due to rounding in the calculations, the estimated total presentation hours shown here cannot be exactly calculated from the average preparation hours
per respondent, nor will adding the preparation hours in Table 3 equal exactly the total preparation hours presented in Table 16.

NCES bases total estimated data preparation hours for 2024-25 through 2026-27 IPEDS collections on these averages.
Detailed estimates of response burden for each IPEDS survey component for the 2024-25 through 2026-27 data
collections are provided below. In each of Tables 4-15 NCES provides the average 2022-23 self-reported burden time
per institution adjusted, where noted, for each of the upcoming three data collection years 2024-25, 2025-26, and
2026-27 based on the proposed changes to data collection in that survey component. Tables are broken down by
returning vs. new keyholders and by institution type. The last row of each table provides the average 2022-23 selfreported burden time per institution, aggregated for all institution types, and adjusted, where noted, for 2024-25,
2025-26, and/or 2026-27 based on the proposed changes to data collection in that component.

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 15

A.12.1 Fall Collection
Institutional Characteristics (IC). Detailed estimates for the IC survey component are presented in table 4 and
include the Institutional Identification and Institutional Characteristics. The estimates account for both institution
type and keyholder experience. The burden estimates for 2023-24 were based on self-reported preparation time for
this component. NCES expects the burden to decrease in 2024-25 through 2026-27 due to the streamlining of
questions and removal of cost of attendance and tuition collections to the new Cost (CST) survey component.

Table 4. Burden hours, Institutional Characteristics

Institution Type

Number of
institutions (Title
IV and non-Title
IV)

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools
Total

2,795
1,576
1,744
6,115

2024-25
Estimated average burden
hours per institution
Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder
1.0
1.5
1.1
1.3
1.4
2.0
1.1
1.6

2025-26
2026-27
Estimated average burden Estimated average burden hours
hours per institution
per institution
Experienced
New
Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder
keyholder
keyholder
1.0
1.5
1.0
1.5
1.1
1.3
1.1
1.3
1.4
2.0
1.4
2.0
1.1
1.6
1.1
1.6

Completions (C): Detailed estimates for the C survey component are presented in table 5. These estimates account
for institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent self-reported
preparation time for this component. There are minor changes to terminology, FAQs, and wording that should not
impact burden.
Table 5. Burden hours, Completions

Institution Type

4-year schools
2-year schools

2023-24
2024-25
2025-26
2026-27
Number of
Estimated average burden Estimated average burden Estimated average burden Estimated average burden
institutions
hours per institution
hours per institution
hours per institution
hours per institution
(Title IV and
Experienced
New
Experienced
New
Experienced
New
Experienced
New
non-Title IV)
keyholder keyholder keyholder keyholder
keyholder
keyholder
keyholder
keyholder
7.8
2,724
6.1
7.8
6.1
6.1
7.8
6.1
7.8
8.0
1,590
5.3
8.0
5.3
5.3
8.0
5.3
8.0

<2-year schools

1,706

4.7

5.5

4.7

5.5

4.7

5.5

4.7

5.5

Total

6,020

5.4

7.1

5.4

7.1

5.4

7.1

5.4

7.1

12-month Enrollment (E12): Detailed estimates for the E12 survey component are presented in table 6. These
estimates account for institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration
respondent self-reported preparation time for this component. There are minor changes to terminology, FAQs, and
wording that should not impact burden.
Table 6. Burden hours, 12-month Enrollment

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools

2022-23
2023-24
2024-25
2026-27
Estimated average burden Estimated average burden Estimated average burden Estimated average burden
hours per institution
hours per institution
hours per institution
hours per institution
Experienced
New
Experienced
New
Experienced
New
Experience
New
keyholder
keyholder keyholder
keyholder
keyholder keyholder d keyholder keyholder
9.4
2,719
6.7
6.7
9.4
6.7
9.4
6.7
9.4
5.6
7.7
1,586
5.6
7.7
5.6
7.7
5.6
7.7
5.1
5.5
1,704
5.1
5.5
5.1
5.5
5.1
5.5

Total

6,009

Institution Type

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)

5.8

7.5

5.8

7.5

5.8

7.5

5.8

7.5

A.12.2 Winter Collection
Student Financial Aid (SFA): Detailed estimates for the SFA survey component are presented in table 7. Estimates
account for institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent selfreported preparation time for this component. Starting with 2024-25, the Cost of Attendance and Net price of
attendance have been removed from SFA, reducing the burden of this instrument. Changes will be made in 2025-26
that will collect more data for each student category, however, it will make the survey collect the same data from
each category instead of different aid types for each category. This should not increase burden as it will make it more
clear by simplifying for institutions while increasing the availability of data. NCES expects only minor burden increase,
at most, with these changes.
Table 7. Burden hours, Student Financial Aid
Institution Type

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)

2023-24
2024-25
2025-26
2026-27
Estimated average burden Estimated average burden Estimated average burden Estimated average burden
hours per institution
hours per institution
hours per institution
hours per institution
Experienced
keyholder

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

Experienced
keyholder

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools

2,645
1,566
1,677

8.5
9.3
7.7

8
11.4
9.5

4.5
5.3
3.7

4
7.4
5.5

4.9
5.7
4.1

4.4
7.8
5.9

4.9
5.7
4.1

4.4
7.8
5.9

Total

5,888

8.5

9.3

4.5

5.3

4.9

5.7

4.9

5.7

Outcome Measures (OM): Detailed estimates for the OM survey component are presented in table 8. Estimates
account for institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent selfreported preparation time for this component. There are only minor wording/terminology changes and changes to
FAQs which do not affect burden.

Table 8. Burden hours, Outcome Measures
Institution Type

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

Experienced
keyholder

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

4-year schools
2-year schools

2,392
1,264

9
8.8

9.1
12.3

9
8.8

9.1
12.3

9
8.8

9.1
12.3

9
8.8

9.1
12.3

Total

3,656

8.9

10.7

8.9

10.7

8.9

10.7

8.9

10.7

Graduation Rates (GR): Detailed estimates for the GR survey component are presented in table 9. Estimates account
for institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent self-reported
preparation time for this component. There is one major change, removal of another gender; other changes are
minor wording/terminology changes and changes to FAQs which do not affect burden.
Table 9. Burden hours, Graduation Rates
Institution Type

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

Experienced
keyholder

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools

2,265
1,506
1,587

7
6.3
4.3

7.5
8.4
5.8

7
6.3
4.3

7.5
8.4
5.8

7
6.3
4.3

7.5
8.4
5.8

7
6.3
4.3

7.5
8.4
5.8

Total

5,358

6.0

7.3

6.0

7.3

6.0

7.3

6.0

7.3

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 17

200% Graduation Rates (GR200): Detailed estimates for the GR200 survey component are presented in table 10.
Estimates account for institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration
respondent self-reported preparation time for this component. There are no changes to this survey component.
Table 10. Burden hours, 200% Graduation Rates
Institution Type

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

Experienced
keyholder

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools

1,970
1,495
1,551

3.4
3.5
3.2

3
4.5
4.3

3.4
3.5
3.2

3
4.5
4.3

3.4
3.5
3.2

3
4.5
4.3

3.4
3.5
3.2

3
4.5
4.3

Total

5,016

3.4

3.9

3.4

3.9

3.4

3.9

3.4

3.9

Admissions (ADM): Detailed estimates for the ADM survey component are presented in table 11. Estimates account
for both institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent selfreported preparation time for this component. There are several changes to the Admissions survey component,
including collection by race and ethnicity for applicants, admits, and enrollees and data collected on early admits and
waitlists. In addition, NCES will now collect data on non-first-time students and open admission institutions that have
programs with admissions requirements will need to report. NCES expects and increase in burden as well as an
increase in the number of institutions reporting. Starting with 2025-26, NCES expects a slight decrease in burden as it
will be the 2nd year of collection.

Table 11. Burden hours, Admissions
Institution
Type

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)*

4-year schools
2-year schools

1,900
900

<2-year schools

300

Total

3,100
* estimated

2024-25
Estimated average burden hours
per institution
Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder
3.6
3.9
3.6
5.3
2.7
5.7

2025-26
Estimated average burden hours
per institution
Experienced
New
keyholder
keyholder
6.1
6.6
6.1
6.6
5.2

5.7

5.2

5.7

3.3

5.8

7.5

5.8

7.5

2026-27
Estimated average burden hours
per institution
Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder
6.1
6.6
6.1
6.6

A.12.3 Fall/Winter Collection
Cost (CST): Detailed estimates for the CST survey component are presented in table 12. Estimates account for both
institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent self-reported
preparation time that was removed from the SFA and IC components to account for the move of certain elements to
the new Cost survey component.
Table 12. Burden hours, Cost
Institution Type

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools
Total

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)
2,645
1,566
1,677
5,888

2024-25
2025-26
2026-27
Estimated average burden hours per Estimated average burden hours per Estimated average burden hours
institution
institution
per institution
Experienced
keyholder

New keyholder

4.5
5.3
3.7
4.5

4
7.4
5.5
5.3

Experienced
keyholder

New keyholder

4.5
5.3
3.7
4.5

4
7.4
5.5
5.3

Experienced
keyholder

4.5
5.3
3.7
4.5

New keyholder

4
7.4
5.5
5.3

A.12.4 Spring Collection
Fall Enrollment (EF): Detailed estimates for the EF survey component are presented in table 12. Estimates account
for both institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent selfreported preparation time for this component. There are only minor changes to terminology, FAQs, and wording that
should not impact burden.
Table 13. Burden hours, Fall Enrollment
Institution Type

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

Experienced
keyholder

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools

2,722
1,577
1,683

8.7
7.5
4.6

12.4
9.9
5.6

8.7
7.5
4.6

12.4
9.9
5.6

8.7
7.5
4.6

12.4
9.9
5.6

8.7
7.5
4.6

12.4
9.9
5.6

Total

5,982

7.0

9.3

7.0

9.3

7.0

9.3

7.0

9.3

Finance (F): Detailed estimates for the F survey component are presented in table 13. These estimates account for
institution type, accounting standards, and keyholder experience. There are minor changes to Finance to improve
clarity. This should not add burden and may decrease burden; NCES is maintaining the current estimates at this time.
Table 14. Burden hours, Finance
Institution Type

Number of
institutions
(Title IV and
non-Title IV)

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

Experienced
keyholder

New
keyholder

Experienced
New keyholder
keyholder

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools

2,615
1,552
1,666

10.7
9.8
5.2

11.4
13.6
6.6

10.7
9.8
5.2

11.4
13.6
6.6

10.7
9.8
5.2

11.4
13.6
6.6

10.7
9.8
5.2

11.4
13.6
6.6

Total

5,833

8.6

10.5

8.6

10.5

8.6

10.5

8.6

10.5

Human Resources (HR): Detailed estimates for the HR survey component are presented in table 14. These estimates
account for institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent selfreported preparation time for this component. There are minor changes to Human Resources to improve clarity. This
should not add burden and may decrease burden; NCES is maintaining the current estimates at this time.
Table 15. Burden hours, Human Resources

Institution Type

2024-25
2025-26
Number of
Estimated average burden hours Estimated average burden hours
institutions (Title
per institution
per institution
IV and non-Title IV)
Experienced
Experienced
New keyholder

keyholder

4-year schools
2-year schools
<2-year schools
Total

2,668
1,571
1,669
5,908

New keyholder

keyholder

2026-27
Estimated average burden
hours per institution
Experienced
keyholder

New keyholder

11.7
7.4
3.6

14
13.1
3.2

11.7
7.4
3.6

14
13.1
3.2

11.7
7.4
3.6

14
13.1
3.2

7.6

10.1

7.6

10.1

7.6

10.1

PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 19

Academic Libraries (AL): Detailed estimates for the AL survey component are presented in table 15. These estimates
account for institution type and keyholder experience and were adjusted to take into consideration respondent selfreported preparation time for this component. There are no changes to this component in 2024-25, and it will be
retired after the 2024-25 data collection. More information about the retirement of the AL survey component can be
found in the Appendix E – IPEDS 2024-25 through 2026-27 Response to 60-day Public Comments.
Table 16. Burden hours, Academic Libraries

Institution Type

2024-25
Number of
Estimated average burden hours
institutions (Title
per institution
IV and non-Title IV) Experienced
New keyholder

keyholder

4-year schools
2-year schools
Total

2,517
1,173
3,690

5.7
5
5.5

5.9
5.8
5.9

2025-26
Estimated average burden
hours per institution
Experienced
keyholder

N/A
N/A
N/A

New keyholder

N/A
N/A
N/A

2026-27
Estimated average burden
hours per institution
Experienced
keyholder

N/A
N/A
N/A

New keyholder

N/A
N/A
N/A

A.12.4 All Collections
All Survey Components. To provide better estimates of burden on an ongoing basis, NCES will continue to ask IPEDS
keyholders to voluntarily report the time required to complete each survey component. NCES estimates a burden of
0.2 hour to track, record, and report this time for the following components: Institutional Characteristics, Admissions,
Completions, 12-month Enrollment, Graduation Rates, Graduation Rates 200, Outcome Measures, and Fall
Enrollment. NCES estimates it will take 0.4 hour for Student Financial Aid, Finance, Human Resources, and Academic
Libraries, because these four components typically involve additional offices at the institution and require keyholders
to get time estimates from others at the institution.
Based on the tables provided in this section, table 16 provides a summary of the estimated number of respondents,
responses, and response burden hours by survey component for each of the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 IPEDS
data collections. These estimates are based on the self-reported burden times provided by institutions that
responded to the burden reporting questions listed for each component during the 2022-23 IPEDS data collection.
Because the percentage of keyholders that are new is relatively stable over time for each IPEDS component, ranging
between 20 and 25% across the components, to calculate the estimated average hours per institution provided in
table 16, we used the 2022-23 observed percentages of new keyholders together with the totals shown in tables 4-15
that reflect for each component the average 2022-23 self-reported burden time per institution, aggregated for all
institution types, and adjusted, where noted, for 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 based on the proposed changes to
data collection in that component.

Table 16. Summary of estimated response burden by survey component: 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27
2024-25
Average
Total burden
hours per
hours
institution
7826
1.3
36096
6.0
38458
6.4
28262
4.8
34732
9.5
33755
6.3
18058
3.6
12090
3.9
N/A
N/A
4.7
27674
7.8
46660
9.2
53664
8.4
49627

IC
C
E12
SFA
OM
GR
GR200
ADM (24-25)
ADM (25-26 & beyond)
CST
EF
F
HR

Number of
institutions
(respondents)
6,020
6,016
6,009
5,888
3,656
5,358
5,016
1,995
3,100
5,888
5,982
5,833
5,978

3,748

5.6

20664

Total (2024-25)

67,259
responses from
6,300
respondents

—

604,884

64,674
responses
from 6,300
respondents

—

Survey component

Total (2005-26 and 202627)

2025-26
Average
Total
hours per
burden
institution
hours
1.3
7,826
6.0
36,096
6.4
38,458
8.9
52,403
9.5
34,732
6.3
33,755
3.6
18,058
NA
NA
6.4
19,840
4.7
27,674
7.8
46,660
9.2
53,664
8.4
49,627
NA

2026-27
Average
Total burden
hours per
hours
institution
1.3
7,826
6.0
36,096
6.4
38,458
5.2
52,403
9.5
34,732
6.3
33,755
3.6
18,058
NA
NA
5.4
16,740
4.7
27,674
7.8
46,660
9.2
53,664
8.4
49,627

—

628,188

—

590,859

The average estimated annual total burden hours for all IPEDS survey components for all participating institutions are
604,884 for 2024-25; 628,188 hours for 2024-25; and 590,859 hours for 2026-27.
The 2024-25 estimated total burden time cost to respondents is based on the estimated response burden -hours
multiplied by the estimated hourly wage $43.86 (based on a 4% increase from $41.21 in 2022 (Bureau of Labor
Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Operations Research Analysts, on the Internet
at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/math/operations-research-analysts.htm [visited January 18, 2024])). The hourly wage is
increased by an estimated 2.0 percent cost-of-living adjustment for each subsequent year. Total estimated costs per
respondent for the 2024-25 through 2026-27 data collections are shown in table 17.
Table 17. Estimates of burden hours and costs to institutions: 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27
Estimated total burden hours for all
institutions

2024-25
2025-26
2026-27

Estimated respondent hourly wage

604,884
628,188
590,859

Estimated total burden time cost per
institution

$43.98
$44.86
$45.76

$4,222.67
$4,473.10
$4,291.70

A.13. Estimate of Cost Burden
There are no capital or startup costs associated with this data collection.

A.14. Cost to the Federal Government
We estimate a total cost to the government for the IPEDS 2024-25 through 2026-27 survey years of approximately
$33,000,000. The total annual cost for this collection will be $11 million. On an annual basis, over the 3 survey years,
the contract costs will average about $9.5 million per year. Federal S&E will be approximately $1,500,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of this amount will be spent in direct support of the institutional training, and the collection,
analysis, and reporting of the IPEDS data described herein. The contract amount includes all activities related to
program support; data collection system maintenance; help desk support activities; programming and software
modifications and documentation; training of contractor staff, institutional respondents, and data users; data
PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 21

collection, data review, and analysis; survey administration; imputations; file preparation, reporting, and data
dissemination; TRP meetings; and other related activities. The costs include personnel, fringe benefits, travel,
supplies, computer-related activities, consultants, other direct and indirect costs, plus overhead and G&A.
The time estimates and costs associated with the activities described above are based on recent experience with the
contractors that currently support the IPEDS operations (RTI, AIR, and others). IPEDS in-house staff costs are based
on FY2024 pay schedules and on an estimated 1 percent pay increase for each of the subsequent fiscal years due to
the uncertainty surrounding pay increases for federal employees.

A.15. Reasons for Change in Burden
While the changes to survey components proposed in this submission result in a modest burden time increase per
institution the decrease in the number of Title IV institutions and revisions to the burden time estimates per
institution based on the voluntary reporting of response burden collected from IPEDS respondents in 2022-23, the
overall estimated annual respondent burden time for this collection has decreased. This is due to the streamlining of
Cost reporting and the retirement of the Academic Libraries survey component.

A.16. Publication Plans/Project Schedule
A.16.a. Schedule of Activities
Table 18. IPEDS 2024-25 planned data collection schedule
Date
Early-August 2024

Activity

Early September 2024

Fall Data Collection opens

Institutional Characteristics (stays open; 2024-25 data)

Completions (2023-24 data)

12-month enrollment (2023-24 data)

Cost Phase 1 (Section 1; 2024-25 data)

Open Registration and Institutional Characteristics (2024-25 data)

Mid-October 2024

Fall Data Collection closes

Early December 2024

Mid-February 2025

Winter and Spring Data Collection opens

Student Financial Aid (2023-24 data)

Cost Phase 2 (Sections 2-3; 2023-24, 2022-23, and 2021-22 data)

Graduation Rates (2023-24 data)

Graduation Rates 200 (2023-24 data)

Outcome Measures (2023-24 data)

Admissions (Fall 2024 data)

Fall Enrollment (Fall 2024 data)

Finance (Fiscal Year 2023)

Human Resources (Fall 2024 data)

Academic Libraries (Fiscal Year 2023)
Winter Data Collection closes

Mid-April 2025

Spring Data Collection closes

August/September 2025

Noncompliance Report due to Office of Federal Student Aid

Fall 2025

Public release of data in IPEDS Data Center of data collected in Fall 2024

Winter 2025

Public release of data in IPEDS Data Center of data collected in Winter 2024-25

Winter 2025-26

Public release of data in IPEDS Data Center of data collected in Spring 2025

Survey activity will include the registration period followed by a collection cycle that varies in length depending on
the collection. Registration must take place (only once) before data can be entered into the system. Data can be
entered directly or through file or batch upload. However, respondents must resolve all errors/flags before data can
be locked. This lock must take place before the collection period closes if data are to be considered as submitted in a
timely fashion. Once the collection closes for institutions, coordinators have a two-week period for review. Once
complete, the survey administrators (Help Desk) review the data, additional error resolution is performed, and a
preliminary file is created for review by NCES. Following NCES approval of this file, imputations are run. Following
NCES approval of the imputed file, the provisional data and associated web tables are released to the public.
22

Frequent communications occur with the institution over the course of the data collection to ensure compliance with
this statutorily mandated collection. The planned 2024-25 communications and follow-up schedule are detailed in
table 19 and detailed communications are included in Appendix B. Keyholders can opt out of receiving reminders.

Table 19. IPEDS 2024-25 data collections communications/follow-up schedule
Collection

Correspondence type

When

Why

Registration

Email to keyholder

Early August
- registration open

UserID + password

Letter to CEO

Early August
- registration open

UserID + password; importance of
keyholder selection; thank you

Email, Mailed packet

At registration

Welcome to new keyholders

Letter to CEO

Late August

No registered keyholder

Each collection:
Fall
Winter
Spring

Additional for Spring

Letter & phone call to CEO

Mid-September

No registered keyholder

Email to keyholder

Open

Collection open

Email to keyholder

Close – 4 wks

No data entered

Email to new keyholder

Close – 4 wks

All surveys not locked

Thank you email to CEO

Close – 3 wks

All surveys locked

Phone call to CEO/keyholder

Close – 2 wks

No data entered

Phone call to new keyholder

Close – 2 wks

All surveys not locked

Email to keyholder

Close – 2 wks

All surveys not locked
All surveys not locked

Email to keyholder

Close – 1 wk

Email to keyholder

Late March

No data entered since Winter

Email – This week in IPEDS

Twice in February

Reminder that Spring surveys are open

A.16.b. Distribution Methods
NCES distributes IPEDS data to users in a timely fashion and in a format that is easy to use. Specifically, IPEDS will be
distributed in the following ways.
1. Data Dissemination Tools.
Use the Data: The Use the Data portal (https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data) is the primary method of
disseminating IPEDS data to the postsecondary education, policy, and research communities. This portal allows
data users to create different reports and datasets, depending on their individual needs. Users can create reports
that highlight a particular institution and compare it with other institutions, or they can simply create a report
about a group of institutions.
Data Explorer: Search for tables, charts, publications, or other products related to postsecondary education
by keywords and filters.
Data Trends: View trends on most frequently asked subject areas including Enrollment, Completions,
Graduation Rates, Employees and Staff, Institutional Revenues, and Financial Aid.
Look Up an Institution: Look up information for one institution at a time. Data can be viewed in two forms:
institution profile (similar to College Navigator) and reported data (institution's response to each survey
question).
Data Feedback Report: Download, print, or customize an institution's Data Feedback Report, a report that
graphically summarizes selected institutional data and compares the data with those of peer institutions.
Statistical Tables: Create simple descriptive statistics (e.g., total, count, average, median, standard deviation,
percentiles) on selected IPEDS institutions and variables.
Summary Tables: Customize a summary table for a select subgroup of institutions on the following popular
topics: tuition and fees, room and board, student financial aid, admissions, test scores, student enrollment,
degree/certificate awarded, and graduation rates.
PART A IPEDS 2024-25 2025-26 THROUGH 2026-27 DATA COLLECTIONS | 23

Compare Institutions: Download IPEDS data files for more than 6,000 institutions and up to 250 variables.
Step-by-step process guides users through the process of selecting institutions and variables. Data files are
provided in comma separated value (*.csv) format.
Survey Data: Download the Access database or complete data file for each survey; or create a custom data
file across multiple surveys. IPEDS data files and data dictionaries are zipped *csv format, including read
programs for easily importing data into a statistical software package (SPSS, STATA, and SAS).
College Navigator: In response to the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, NCES developed a searchable
website to provide up-to-date statistics on a broad range of postsecondary institutions for easy access by
consumers. The site presents general information about each institution and its mission, as well as data on
institution prices and average net price, admissions, financial aid, enrollment, program offerings, degrees and
awards conferred, graduation and retention rates, accreditation, varsity athletic teams, campus security, and
cohort default rates. College Navigator is designed to help college students, future students, and their parents
understand the differences among colleges and how much it costs to attend college. The site also provides direct
links to each institution's home page and net price calculator, the College Affordability and Transparency Center;
Federal Student Aid’s Prepare for College website and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); and
the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Visit https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ for more information.
2. Survey Reports. NCES releases data in a wide variety of formats, including basic tables, descriptive reports, and
more detailed analyses. A few of these types of reports are detailed below.
o

Analytic Reports: Comprehensive reports are produced periodically to analyze major policy issues, such
as trends in minority enrollment and degrees, trends in faculty salaries, and trends in degrees by field
of study.

Other NCES Reports: The Digest of Education Statistics, Projections of Education Statistics, and the
Condition of Education contain major sections based on IPEDS data. These publications have large
distributions to a broad spectrum of users of postsecondary education statistics.

A.17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date
ED is not seeking approval to forego displaying the OMB approval expiration date.

A.18. Exceptions to the Certification
There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

File Type	application/pdf
File Title	Microsoft Word - Part A IPEDS 2025-26 through 2026-27 Final_clean_5.14.25_rev_7.9.25
Author	Danica.Shook
File Modified	2025-07-11
File Created	2025-07-11