Communications Plan and Package

Att_IPEDS 2010-11 Communications Plan and Package.doc

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

Communications Plan and Package

OMB: 1850-0582

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IPEDS: 2009-2013

Communications Plan

Followed by

Pre-Collection Coordination and Communication Package

Updated for the

2010-11 Data Collection Year

National Center for Education Statistics

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

1990 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006

July 20, 2010

Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Keyholder/CEO Contacting & Prompting Schedule 2

This Week in IPEDS 8

IPEDS Listserv 9

Summary 11

Exhibit B-1. Communications/Follow-Up Schedule 3

Introduction

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is a series of annual surveys that collect a variety of data from postsecondary institutions in the United States and U.S. territories. RTI International is under contract to provide data collection support to IPEDS users, primarily in the form of a Help Desk which is tasked with providing assistance to IPEDS users and engaging in communications with IPEDS respondents in ways which serve the following purposes: (1) to build rapport between the data providers, data collection contractor (RTI), RTI subcontractors, and the IPEDS program within the U.S Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES); (2) to ensure that IPEDS data providers are informed of all reporting responsibilities and survey deadlines; and (3) to provide avenues for sharing knowledge, to ask questions, and to constructively engage with other members of the IPEDS community. Toward these ends, this Communications Plan outlines strategies for a variety of interactions with IPEDS Keyholders, Coordinators, and other stakeholders. These communication activities are essential in ensuring that data provided to IPEDS are timely, informed, useful, and as accurate as possible.

The purpose of this Communications Plan is to provide NCES with documentation of the plans and procedures that RTI International will implement to ensure that communications are carried out as scheduled and effectively serve to enhance dialogue between data providers, NCES, RTI, and other stakeholders. Project staff will be trained on the communications plan and briefed on its implementation. We will monitor all activities to ensure that the Communications Plan is being followed, and we will be prepared to readily address any deficiencies. Throughout the data collection year, we anticipate that we will have ongoing communications with NCES to address any additional needs for communications as they arise.

Keyholder/CEO Contacting & Prompting Schedule

Because IPEDS reporting is congressionally mandated, and non-compliant Title-IV institutions can be fined for failure to report, it is essential that all IPEDS respondents are kept fully apprised of reporting requirements and deadlines. To this end, NCES and RTI have established a rigorous prompting schedule, as outlined in Exhibit B-1.

Exhibit B-1 IPEDS 2010-11 Data Collection Communications / Follow-up Schedule
Collection	Correspondence type	When	Communication/Prompting Criteria
Registration	Registration Email w/UserID	Registration opens (8/4)	All keyholders (KHs) and coordinators
Period	Letter to CEO w/KH letter & reg cert	Registration opens (8/4)	No previous keyholder
	New KH Welcome Package	Automatically sent at the time New KH Registers	New keyholders
	Email to KH: reminder to register	Registration +2 wks (8/18)	No registered keyholder
	Letter to CEO	Registration +3 wks (8/25)	No registered keyholder
	Annual Update Email to Coords	Registration +3 wks (8/25)	All Coordinators
Fall 2010	Opening Email to KH	Open (9/8)	All Keyholders & Coordinators
	One Last Chance Reminder	Open +1 week (9/23)	CEOS of institutions having already used 1 last chance; cc to KH
	Letter to CEO	Close – 4 wks (9/22)	No registered keyholder
	Email to keyholder (KH)	Close – 4 wks (9/22)	No data entered
	Thank You email to CEO	Close – 3 wks (9/29)	All surveys completed
	Phone call to CEO	Close – 3 wks (9/29)	No registered keyholder
	Annual Update Letter to CEOs	Close – 2 wks (10/6)	All CEOs
	Phone call to CEO/KH	Close – 2 wks (10/6)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (10/6)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (10/6)	All required surveys not locked
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (10/13)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (10/13)	All required surveys not locked
Winter 2010-11	Opening Email to KH	Open (12/8)	All Keyholders & Coordinators
	Letter to CEO	Close – 4 wks (12/29)	No registered keyholder
	Email to keyholder	Close – 4 wks (12/29)	No HR data entered
	Thank You email to CEO	Close – 3 wks (1/5)	All surveys completed
	Phone call to CEO	Close – 3 wks (1/5)	No registered keyholder
	Phone call to CEO/KH	Close – 2 wks (1/12)	No HR data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (1/12)	No HR data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (1/12)	HR survey not locked
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (1/19)	No HR data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (1/19)	HR survey not locked

IPEDS 2010-11 Data Collection Communications / Follow-up Schedule
Collection	Correspondence type	When	Communication/Prompting Criteria
Spring 2011	Opening Email to KH*	Open (12/8)	All Keyholders & Coordinators
	Email to KH (included in TWII)	Close – 8 wks (2/16)	All required surveys not locked
	Email to KH (included in TWII)	Close – 6 wks (3/2)	All required surveys not locked
	Letter to CEO	Close – 4 wks (3/16)	No registered keyholder
	Email to keyholder	Close – 4 wks (3/16)	No data entered
	Thank You email to CEO*	Close – 3 wks (3/23)	All surveys completed
	Email to Keyholder	Close – 3 wks (3/23)	No data entered since Winter
	Phone call to CEO/KH	Close – 2 wks (3/30)	No data entered
	Phone call to CEO/KH	Close – 2 wks (3/30)	No data entered since Winter
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (3/30)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (3/30)	All required surveys not locked
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (4/6)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (4/6)	All required surveys not locked

*Note: Beginning with the IPEDS 2009-10 Data Collection, the spring components have been available (i.e. open) to institutions concurrently with the winter components.

A brief summary of the various prompting-related communications, as noted in Exhibit B-1, is shown below:

Registration Emails and Letters: On the designated date for the opening of the collection year, RTI will contact all institutions in the current universe, notifying them of the registration period opening and providing the ID and Password to be used to register in the Data Collection System. For institutions that have an existing Keyholder (from the prior year), an email will be sent containing the registration information. For institutions without an existing Keyholder (e.g., new institutions), a letter will be sent to the institution’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) detailing the IPEDS reporting requirements, and containing a letter to be passed to the individual who will serve as the designated Keyholder. A copy of the email or letter will be included in the contact history for each institution.

New KH Welcome Package: As keyholders register (and self-identify themselves as “new”), an email will automatically be sent to them. The email will include an informational overview of IPEDS, along with suggestions aimed at familiarizing new users with IPEDS reporting requirements. The email will also include links to training opportunities and other critical information such as statutory requirements, the collection schedule, changes for the upcoming collection year, and data dissemination information. A copy of the email will be included in the contact history for those institutions that received the email.

Email Reminder to Register (Registration +2 Weeks): Two weeks subsequent to the opening of the registration period, RTI will send an additional registration email reminder to all Title-IV institutions that have not yet registered a Keyholder within the Data Collection System. A copy of the email will be included in the contact history for each institution.

Letter to CEO for no Registered Keyholder (Registration +3 Weeks): Three weeks subsequent to the opening of the registration period, RTI will mail an additional registration letter to the CEO of all Title-IV institutions that have not yet registered a Keyholder within the Data Collection System. The letter will include information for the institution’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) detailing the IPEDS reporting requirements, and will contain a letter to be passed to the individual who will serve as the designated Keyholder. A copy of the letter will be included in the contact history for each institution.

Annual Update Email to Coords (Registration +3 Weeks): Three weeks subsequent to the opening of the registration period, RTI will send an email to all coordinators thanking them for their continued support of the IPEDS data collection, and alerting them to the latest IPEDS updates. This annual email will notify them of changes for the upcoming collection year, as well as enhanced tools and utilities at their disposal for the upcoming year.

Opening Email: On the day of the opening for each collection period, an email will be sent to all Keyholders and Coordinators, informing them that the collection is open, and containing detailed information relating which survey components are required to be completed during the collection period, which survey components are optional (if any), and the deadline for submission. For the spring components, although the components technically open with the winter collection, a reminder email will be sent on the “traditional” spring opening date (i.e., 6 weeks before the close of the spring collection).

(Spring Only) Reminder Email (Close -8 Weeks): A reminder will be incorporated into a “This Week in IPEDS” sent on or around eight weeks prior to closing. The reminder will note the survey components that continue to be available, and the deadline for completion of those components. A copy of the email will be included in the contact history for those institutions that received the email.

(Spring Only) Reminder Email (Close -6 Weeks): A reminder will be incorporated into a “This Week in IPEDS” sent on or around six weeks prior to closing. The reminder will note the survey components that continue to be available, and the deadline for completion of those components. A copy of the email will be included in the contact history for those institutions that received the email.

Letter to CEO for no Registered Keyholder (Close -4 Weeks): Four weeks prior to the closing of each collection period, RTI will mail a letter to the CEO of all Title-IV institutions that have not yet registered a Keyholder within the Data Collection System. The letter will include information for the institution’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) detailing the IPEDS reporting requirements, and will contain a letter to be passed to the individual who will serve as the designated Keyholder. A copy of the letter will be included in the contact history for each institution.

Reminder Email (Close -4 Weeks): Four weeks prior to the closing date, an email will be sent to all Keyholders that have not yet started any data entry for any of the required survey components, informing IPEDS respondents that the deadline is four weeks away. A courtesy copy of this email will be sent to all Coordinators, and a copy of the email will be included in the contact history for those institutions that received the email.

Thank-You Email to CEO (Close -3 Weeks): Three weeks prior to the closing of each collection period, RTI will export a listing of all Title-IV institutions that have submitted (locked) all required survey components for the current collection. These institutions will have an email sent to their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as designated in the Data Collection System, thanking the CEO for their institution’s early submission. The email will name the Keyholder, and express NCES’ appreciation for the timely submission. A copy of the email will be included in the contact history for those institutions that received the email.

Phone Call to CEO for no registered Keyholder (Close -3 Weeks): Three weeks prior to the closing of each collection period, RTI will begin calling the CEO of Title-IV institutions that have not yet registered a Keyholder within the Data Collection System. RTI’s Help Desk staff will remind the CEO that the IPEDS collection is underway, is congressionally required, and that a Keyholder must be appointed right away. If requested, the registration information will again be mailed or emailed to the institution, care of the individual identified by the CEO to serve as the Keyholder. Call details and the outcome of each call attempt will be fully documented with the Help Desk Application.

Phone Call to CEO/KH (Close -2 Weeks): Two weeks prior to the closing date, RTI’s Help Desk staff will begin calling institutional respondents, if the institution has not yet started reporting data for any of the required surveys. RTI will first attempt to contact the Keyholder. If the Help Desk cannot reach the Keyholder directly (e.g. speaking directly to the Keyholder) within 1 week or within 4 call attempts, Help Desk staff will next try to contact the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as designated in the Data Collection System, and continue making call attempts until the CEO is reached or the Keyholder returns the call to the Help Desk. All call attempts will be fully documented with the Help Desk Application.

(Spring Only) Reminder Email (Close -3 Weeks): Three weeks prior to the spring collection closing date, an email will be sent to all Keyholders that have not yet started any data entry since the “opening” of the spring collection on 3/3/2010, but had started one or more surveys (other than HR) prior to the spring opening date. The email will reminder IPEDS respondents that the deadline is three weeks away. A courtesy copy of this email will be sent to all Coordinators, and a copy of the email will be included in the contact history for those institutions that received the email.

Reminder Email (Close -2 Weeks): Two weeks prior to the closing date, an email will be sent to all Keyholders that have not yet started, OR have not yet submitted (locked) all required survey components, informing IPEDS respondents that the deadline is two weeks away. The email will also provide detailed information regarding how to get assistance (Help Desk), if needed, and the extended hours during which the Help Desk will remain open during the remainder of the collection period. A courtesy copy of this email will be sent to all Coordinators, and a copy of the email will be included in the contact history for those institutions that received the email.

Email Reminder (Close -1 Week): One week prior to the closing date, an email will be sent to all Keyholders that have not yet started, OR have not yet submitted (locked) all required survey components, informing IPEDS respondents that the deadline is one week away. The email will also provide detailed information regarding how to get assistance (Help Desk), if needed, and the extended hours during which the Help Desk will remain open during the remainder of the collection period. A courtesy copy of this email will be sent to all Coordinators, and a copy of the email will be included in the contact history for those institutions that received the email.

During the registration period, and during subsequent collections, a confirmation email will be sent to Keyholders and Coordinators at the time that they successfully complete their registration. Additionally, throughout all three collection periods, at the time each survey component is locked, the collection system will generate and send an email to the locking Keyholder, confirming that the survey component has been successfully locked, and will include the date of the locking. At the same time, an email notification will be sent to the next locking coordinator in the institution’s lock order, if any, notifying the coordinator that the survey is now ready to be reviewed and locked.

Drafts of all registration letters & email, opening announcement emails, reminder emails, CEO Thank-You emails, CEO/KH Reminder scripts, and locking confirmation emails will be provided to NCES as part of Deliverable 12, Pre-Collection Coordination and Communication Package. All communications (e.g. telephone, email, mail correspondence, and fax) with institutional representatives will be logged in the institution’s contact history within the IPEDS Help Desk Application.

RTI will adhere to the schedule as outlined in Exhibit B-1 and ensure that all communications are initiated on-time and as planned, unless deviations are requested by NCES. The Data Collection Task Leader, or his designee, will serve to initiate each scheduled communication.

This Week in IPEDS

RTI has been producing and emailing “This Week in IPEDS” for many years. This news bulletin is typically sent to all IPEDS keyholders and coordinators, on a weekly basis, when there is sufficient news to warrant its sending. Typically, the bulletin includes notification about recent updates to the collection requirements, availability of data, training opportunities, and other related news items. RTI will continue to produce This Week in IPEDS throughout the collection year, drafting a copy for review and submitting it to NCES for review and approval. Upon approval, RTI will send, via email, This Week in IPEDS to all registered Keyholders at Title-IV institutions, as well as all Coordinators. RTI will also maintain a list of non-IPEDS users who have expressed an interest in receiving This Week in IPEDS, such as subcontractor staff and non-Title-IV institutional Keyholders who have asked to receive it.

When sending This Week in IPEDS, RTI will copy NCES staff and subcontractor staff. IT Innovative Solutions, as the designated subcontractor for maintaining the IPEDS homepage, will format it for posting and submit it to the NCES webmaster to be updated into the This Week in IPEDS section of the homepage (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/). Additionally, RTI will archive copies of This Week in IPEDS on the IPEDS Integrated Management System (IMS), located in an access-controlled website at: https://edsurveys.rti.org/IPEDS

IPEDS Listserv

It is commonplace among institutional researchers to seek advice and suggestions from their professional colleagues at other institutions. These conversations often involve multiple individuals, and take the form of a discussion, occurring either by email or through discussion forums. To provide a venue for such IPEDS-specific discussions to occur, RTI will continue to host and manage the IPEDS listserv developed prior to the 2009-10 collection year. The listserv allows IPEDS respondents, coordinators, and other stakeholders, to subscribe to the listserv and view messages sent by other subscribers. The original messages, as well as the replies, will be archived in a discussion forum where they will be publicly accessible, for one calendar year, at a minimum. The forum will serve as a repository of information, advice, and guidance for potential respondents and/or listserv subscribers in the future. The listserv and related archive forum will be hosted on RTI’s servers, and will be capable of managing 15,000 unique subscribers, at a minimum.

RTI’s current listserv offers the following features:

IPEDS respondents, coordinators, and other stakeholders can create a user account and subscribe to the listserv. Subscriber can choose account settings most suited to their individual needs, such as: 1) receiving notification of, or copies of, all messages as they are posted, or 2) receiving a weekly summary (digest) of all related messages being posted during the prior week.
A link (shortcut) to the URL has been established in the Data Collection System (DCS) that takes IPEDS users directly to the listserv/discussion forum webpage.
Listserv subscribers can choose to: 1) receive copies of posted messages, or 2) receive notification that messages have been posted to a central location (discussion forum).
Discussions are stored by subject, such that initial questions and all related responses are grouped together (e.g. the subject line of the original question will serve as the subject, and all replies will be stored with that subject).
Although RTI currently has a single discussion forum (with conversations grouped by subject, as noted above), we will monitor the activity within the listserv and consider creating additional sub-sections of the forum as needed (for example, a separate area for questions related to Race/Ethnicity or other topical concerns as warranted).

Requests for subscription will continue to be vetted by RTI staff to ensure that they are valid requests, by reviewing the potential subscriber’s institution name (or affiliation), phone numbers (to ensure that subscribers are located within the United States or U.S. Territories), and email address (to ensure that the email address is associated with a legitimate institution of higher education or association). For users with email addresses that do not clearly specify their institution (e.g., yahoo.com, gmail.com, etc), RTI staff will determine if the email address exists within the data collection system, or will contact the subscriber to verify their legitimacy. These measures seek not to exclude any interested parties from subscribing to the listserv, but to prevent spammers and other individuals without a legitimate interest from usurping the listserv. Should such behaviors occur, RTI will remove offending users from the subscription list in a timely manner.

NCES staff, RTI staff, and other subcontractor staff will be subscribers to the listserv, allowing all parties to provide a high level of vigilance and affording the opportunity to intervene as needed (e.g. to clarify instructions or correct a subscriber’s inadvisable solution to a posted question).

Summary

The IPEDS data collections are very important and include many complex surveys. With this in mind, the communications measures described in this document have been designed to maintain the desired level of communications with IPEDS respondents and stakeholders, as well as providing timely information and prompting contacts. These procedures will continue to be evaluated and improved to ensure that the Communications Plan effectively serves its purposes to build rapport with respondents, remind respondents of impending deadlines, and provide constructive avenues for information exchange and dialogue regarding reporting and use of IPEDS data.

IPEDS: 2009-2013

Pre-Collection Coordination and Communication Package

Updated for the

2010-11 Data Collection Year

National Center for Education Statistics

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

1990 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006

July 20, 2010

Table of Contents

Overview 3

Exhibit 1. Communications/Follow-Up Schedule 5

Exhibit 2. Registration Letter to CEOs of Institutions with no Previous Keyholder 7

Exhibit 3. Registration Letter to Keyholders 8

Exhibit 4. Registration Certificate 10

Exhibit 5. Registration Email to Keyholders 11

Exhibit 6. Registration Email to Multi-Keyholders 13

Exhibit 7. Registration Email to Coordinators 15

Exhibit 8. New Keyholder Welcome Package/Email 19

Exhibit 9. Registration +2 Weeks Keyholder Reminder Email 21

Exhibit 10. Registration +3 Weeks Reminder Letter to CEOs 22

Exhibit 11. Annual Update Email to IPEDS Coordinators 23

Exhibit 12. Fall Opening Announcement Email 24

Exhibit 13. One Last Chance Reminder Letter to CEOs 26

Exhibit 14. Fall Registration Close -4 Weeks Reminder Letter to CEOs 27

Exhibit 15. Fall Close -4 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholders 28

Exhibit 16. Fall CEO Close -3 Weeks Early-Completer Thank-You Email 29

Exhibit 17. Fall CEO Call Script for No Registered Keyholder 30

Exhibit 18. Fall Keyholder/CEO Call Script for No Data Entered 32

Exhibit 19. Fall Close -2 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholder for

“No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked” 36

Exhibit 20. Fall Close -1 Week Reminder Email to Keyholder for

“No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys are Not Locked” 37

Exhibit 21. Winter Opening Announcement Email 38

Exhibit 22. Winter Registration Close -4 Weeks Reminder Letter to CEOs 40

Exhibit 23. Winter Close -4 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholders 41

Exhibit 24. Winter CEO Close -3 Weeks Early-Completer Thank-You Email 42

Exhibit 25. Winter CEO Call Script for No Registered Keyholder 43

Exhibit 26. Winter Keyholder/CEO Call Script for No Data Entered 45

Exhibit 27. Winter Close -2 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholder

for “No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked” 48

Exhibit 28. Winter Close -1 Week Reminder Email to Keyholder for

“No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked” 49

Exhibit 29. Spring Reminder/Close -6 Weeks and Close -8 Weeks

to be included in This Week in IPEDS 50

Exhibit 30. Spring Close -4 Weeks Registration Reminder Letter to CEOs 52

Exhibit 31. Spring Close -4 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholders for

“All Required Surveys Not Locked” 53

Exhibit 32. Spring CEO Close -3 Weeks Early-Completer Thank-You Email 54

Exhibit 33. Spring CEO Call Script for No Registered Keyholder 55

Exhibit 34. Spring Close -3 Weeks Reminder Email No Data Since Winter 57

Exhibit 35. Spring Keyholder/CEO Call Script for No Data Entered/

No Data Entered Since Winter 58

Exhibit 36. Spring Close -2 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholder for

“No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked” 61

Exhibit 37. Spring Close -1 Week Reminder Email to Keyholder for

“No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked” 62

Exhibit 38. Registration Confirmation Email 63

Exhibit 39. Locking Confirmation Email to Keyholders 63

Exhibit 40. Ready-to-Lock Email to Coordinators 64

Exhibit 41. UserID and Password Confirmation Email 64

Overview

RTI International is under contract to provide data collection support to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), primarily in the form of a Help Desk which is tasked with providing assistance to IPEDS users and engaging in communications with IPEDS respondents in ways that build rapport between the data providers, data collection contractor (RTI), RTI subcontractors, and the IPEDS program within the U.S Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and to ensure that IPEDS data providers are informed of all reporting responsibilities and survey deadlines. Toward these ends, this Pre-Collection Coordination and Communication Package (Deliverable 12) provides documentation of the activities and communications needed to fulfill that purpose. In conjunction with the Communication Plan (Deliverable 13) previously provided to NCES, the package outlines the strategies and messages to be used for interacting with, and communicating to, IPEDS Keyholders, Coordinators, and other stakeholders. These communications are essential in ensuring that data provided to IPEDS are timely, informed, useful, and as accurate as possible.

The purpose of this Pre-Collection Coordination and Communication Package is to provide NCES with draft templates of all mailings, e-mailings, phone prompting, and automated email messages that RTI International will implement to inform data providers about all required reporting deadlines, for review and approval by the COR. Understanding that dates and/or specific communication needs may change during the collection year, RTI will be prepared to readily modify any of the communications that are included in this package, or to address any deficiencies with the communications as proposed. Also, throughout the data collection year, we anticipate that we will have ongoing communications with NCES to address any additional needs for communications as they arise.

Exhibit 1, which was also included in the Communications Plan (Deliverable 13), serves as a guide to what communications are utilized, and when. Exhibits 2 through 37 include the draft text of letters, emails, and phone scripts to be used throughout the collection year.

In addition to the scheduled communications and follow-up prompting activities, the data collection system also generates and sends automated emails. These are shown in Exhibits 38 through 41, and include automated emails for: a) registration confirmation for all users who register, b) confirmation of locked surveys sent to the Keyholder when any individual survey component is locked, c) ready-to-lock notification sent to a Coordinator when a survey has been locked by a keyholder and is ready for the coordinator to review and lock, and d) confirmation of a user’s ID and password which is sent by the collection system at the request of a Help Desk staffer.

Currently, there are no planned updates to existing coordination trees. Coordination tree updates will be made as requested throughout the collection year.

Exhibit 1. Communications/Follow-Up Schedule

IPEDS 2010-11 Data Collection Communications / Follow-up Schedule
Collection	Correspondence type	When	Communication/Prompting Criteria
Registration	Registration Email w/UserID	Registration opens (8/4)	All keyholders (KHs) and coordinators
Period	Letter to CEO w/KH letter & reg cert	Registration opens (8/4)	No previous keyholder
	New KH Welcome Package	Automatically sent at the time New KH Registers	New keyholders
	Email to KH: reminder to register	Registration +2 wks (8/18)	No registered keyholder
	Letter to CEO	Registration +3 wks (8/25)	No registered keyholder
	Annual Update Email to Coords	Registration +3 wks (8/25)	All Coordinators
Fall 2010	Opening Email to KH	Open (9/8)	All Keyholders & Coordinators
	One Last Chance Reminder	Open +1 week (9/15)	CEOS of institutions having already used their one last chance; cc to KH
	Letter to CEO	Close – 4 wks (9/22)	No registered keyholder
	Email to keyholder (KH)	Close – 4 wks (9/22)	No data entered
	Thank You email to CEO	Close – 3 wks (9/29)	All surveys completed
	Phone call to CEO	Close – 3 wks (9/29)	No registered keyholder
	Phone call to CEO/KH	Close – 2 wks (10/6)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (10/6)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (10/6)	All required surveys not locked
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (10/13)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (10/13)	All required surveys not locked
Winter 2010-11	Opening Email to KH	Open (12/8)	All Keyholders & Coordinators
	Letter to CEO	Close – 4 wks (12/29)	No registered keyholder
	Email to keyholder	Close – 4 wks (12/29)	No HR data entered
	Thank You email to CEO	Close – 3 wks (1/5)	All surveys completed
	Phone call to CEO	Close – 3 wks (1/5)	No registered keyholder
	Phone call to CEO/KH	Close – 2 wks (1/12)	No HR data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (1/12)	No HR data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (1/12)	HR survey not locked
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (1/19)	No HR data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (1/19)	HR survey not locked

IPEDS 2010-11 Data Collection Communications / Follow-up Schedule
Collection	Correspondence type	When	Communication/Prompting Criteria
Spring 2011	Opening Email to KH*	Open (12/8)	All Keyholders & Coordinators
	Email to KH (included in TWII)	Close – 8 wks (2/16)	All required surveys not locked
	Email to KH (included in TWII)	Close – 6 wks (3/2)	All required surveys not locked
	Letter to CEO	Close – 4 wks (3/16)	No registered keyholder
	Email to keyholder	Close – 4 wks (3/16)	No data entered
	Thank You email to CEO*	Close – 3 wks (3/23)	All surveys completed
	Email to Keyholder	Close – 3 wks (3/23)	No data entered since Winter
	Phone call to CEO	Close – 3 wks (3/23)	No registered keyholder
	Phone call to CEO/KH	Close – 2 wks (3/30)	No data entered
	Phone call to CEO/KH	Close – 2 wks (3/30)	No data entered since Winter
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (3/30)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 2 wks (3/30)	All required surveys not locked
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (4/6)	No data entered
	Email to keyholder	Close – 1 wk (4/6)	All required surveys not locked

*Note: Beginning with the IPEDS 2010-11 Data Collection, the spring components have been available (i.e. open) to institutions concurrently with the winter components.

Exhibit 2. Registration Letter to CEOs of Institutions with no Previous Keyholder

August 4, 2010

ceo_name

ceo_title

institution_name

addr1_txt

city_txt, state_cd zip_text

Dear Chief Executive Officer:

The National Center for Education Statistics is finalizing preparations for the 2010-11 IPEDS data collection. Your institution currently does not have a designated keyholder for the upcoming 2010-11 collection cycle; please appoint one at this time, and forward the enclosed materials to that individual. The success of the IPEDS data collection and quality of the IPEDS data depend, in large part, on the efforts of your institution’s keyholder.

The keyholder is responsible for your institution’s data submission and should be someone who is familiar with the IPEDS data collection. This person is responsible for all three collections— Fall 2010, Winter 2010-11, and Spring 2011. The enclosed materials provide the information your appointed keyholder will need to register prior to entering data into the system. Once your keyholder registers, all future correspondence will go directly to him or her.

The importance of your institution’s compliance with this reporting responsibility cannot be overstated. Please be aware that responses to the IPEDS surveys are mandated for those institutions that participate or expect to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs under Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), 20 U.S.C. §1094(a)(17) and the Department of Education’s regulations at 34 C.F.R. §668.14(b)(19). As a condition of continued participation in the federal student aid programs, all institutions must complete, in a timely manner and to the satisfaction of the Secretary, all surveys conducted as a part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. According to the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), an institution’s failure to complete and submit these surveys is a serious violation of its obligations under the HEA and the regulations, and appropriate action will be taken by FSA.

Because of the importance of the IPEDS surveys, we will contact you again if your keyholder has not registered by August 25, 2010. Registration is currently open, and the data collection periods are scheduled as follows:

Fall 2010: September 8, 2010 – October 20, 2010

Winter 2010-11: December 8, 2010 – January 26, 2011

Spring 2011: December 8, 2010 – April 13, 2011

The results of the 2009-10 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) web-based data collections are currently available through the IPEDS Data Center, the Executive Peer Tool, and the College Navigator website. Links to all of these data tools are on the IPEDS web site at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds.

There is no need for you to respond to this letter. However, if you need any additional information or have any questions, please contact the IPEDS Help Desk toll free at 1-877-225-2568 (or send an email to ipedshelp@rti.org). Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Sincerely,

Thomas Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

Attachments

unitid

Exhibit 3. Registration Letter to Keyholders

August 4, 2010

IPEDS Keyholder

institution_name

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

Welcome! Your Chief Administrator has designated you as the IPEDS Keyholder for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2010-11. The success of the IPEDS data collection and quality of the IPEDS data depend, in large part, on your efforts. Thank you in advance for your work this coming year.

As the IPEDS keyholder, you are responsible for assuring the accuracy of all of your institution’s data submitted to IPEDS, and for “locking” the surveys by the designated keyholder deadlines for the three 2010-11 data collections (Fall 2010, Winter 2010-11, and Spring 2011). Enclosed is a registration certificate that provides you with the information you need to register by August 25 and subsequently participate in these important data collections.

The Fall 2010, Winter 2010-11, and Spring 2011 data collections will be administered through a web system that can be accessed only by designated staff with assigned UserIDs and passwords. This Fall we will collect Institutional Characteristics, Completions, and 12-month Enrollment data. The Winter collection will include the Human Resources component. The Spring collection opens December 8 and will be open continuously until April 13; this collection includes the Fall Enrollment, Finance, Student Financial Aid, Graduation Rates, and Graduation Rates 200 components.

For your convenience in preparing for the upcoming collections, ALL survey forms, instructions, file import specifications, narrative edits, and FAQs for the 2010-11 surveys are available through the data collection system (select Help, then Survey Materials). In addition, resources to help institutions transition to the new race and ethnicity categories (mandatory in 2010-11 and 2011-12) are available at http://nces.ed.gov/IPEDS/reic/resource.asp.

The importance of your institution’s compliance with the IPEDS reporting responsibility cannot be overstated. Please note that responses to the IPEDS surveys are mandated for those institutions that participate or expect to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs under Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, (HEA), 20 U.S.C. §1094(a)(17) and the Department of Education’s regulations at 34 C.F.R. §668.14(b)(19). As a condition of continued participation in the federal student aid programs, all institutions must complete, in a timely manner and to the satisfaction of the Secretary, all surveys conducted as a part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. According to the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), an institution’s failure to complete and submit these surveys is a serious violation of its obligations under the HEA and the regulations, and appropriate action will be taken by FSA.

As your institution’s keyholder, the first deadline you must meet is to register as the IPEDS keyholder using the information on the enclosed registration certificate prior to August 25. If you have not registered by that date, we will send a letter to your institution’s CEO indicating that your institution has no registered keyholder. The registration screen asks for specific contact information. This information must be complete, and the email address provided will be used for ALL further contact with your institution during these data collections. If your institution has more than one person who will need to provide data for the surveys, you may request up to six (6) additional UserIDs and passwords for these staff members. However, please remember that all communication will flow through you as the IPEDS keyholder, and you will be the only person allowed to lock your data.

Please refer to the collection schedule on your registration certificate and allow sufficient time to enter and lock your data for Fall, Winter, and Spring. Once your institution’s data have been locked, they will be reviewed by NCES. You may receive a request for clarification based on this review. Your institution’s data will be made available to other responding institutions through the IPEDS Data Center, and they will be posted to the College Navigator website, where information can be accessed by students and parents (http://collegesearch.ed.gov).

Thank you for your assistance. If you need additional information, please call the IPEDS Help Desk at the toll free number 1-877-225-2568 (or send an email to ipedshelp@rti.org).

Sincerely,

Thomas Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

Attachments

unitid

Exhibit 4. Registration Certificate

Registration Certificate

IPEDS 2010-11 Collection Year

unitid

institution_name

User ID: user_id

Password: password_txt

Note: The above password is temporary and you will be

required to establish a new password upon your first login.

IPEDS HELP Desk:

ipedshelp@rti.org

1-877-225-2568 (toll free)

On-line Registration

http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds

Opens August 4, 2010

Use the Help menu for copies of survey forms

and other important information for respondents

2010-11 Data Collection Periods*

http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds

Fall 2010: September 8, 2010 – October 20, 2010

Winter 2010-11: December 8, 2010 – January 26, 2011

Spring 2011: December 8, 2010 – April 13, 2011

*Closeout dates are firm and no extensions will be granted

Exhibit 5. Registration Email to Keyholders

Subject: IPEDS 2010-11 Registration Information - <UnitID>

August 4, 2010

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

Welcome back! The National Center for Education Statistics is finalizing preparations for the 2010-11 IPEDS data collection. At the end of the Spring 2010 collection period, you were registered as the keyholder for your institution. If you will continue to serve as the keyholder for the upcoming 2010-11 collection cycle, please be sure to register as directed below. If you will NOT be serving as the keyholder for this collection year, please forward this email to your Chief Executive Officer so that another keyholder can be assigned.

The success of the IPEDS data collection and quality of the IPEDS data depend, in large part, on your efforts. Thank you in advance for your work this coming year.

The importance of your institution's compliance with the IPEDS reporting responsibility cannot be overstated. As you know, responses to the IPEDS surveys are mandated for those institutions that participate or expect to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs under Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, (HEA), 20 U.S.C. §1094(a)(17) and the Department of Education's (Department) regulations at 34 C.F.R. §668.14(b)(19). As a condition of continued participation in the federal student aid programs, all institutions must complete, in a timely manner and to the satisfaction of the Secretary, all surveys conducted as a part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. According to the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), an institution's failure to complete and submit these surveys is a serious violation of its obligations under the HEA and the regulations, and appropriate action will be taken by FSA.

Keyholder Registration:

The keyholder's UserID and Password to access the IPEDS web-based data collection system for the entire 2010-11 collection cycle is listed below. This is a TEMPORARY password and you will need to create your own password when logging in.

******************************************

Institution: <Institution_Name>

UserID: <UserID>

Temporary Password: <PW>

******************************************

The registration site opens August 4, 2010. Keyholders must register online at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/IPEDS by August 25, 2010. In order to ensure that each institution is registered, we will send reminder letters to CEOs of Title-IV institutions if the keyholder is not registered by the August 25 date.

When registering in the system, please be sure that your registration information is correct. Verify your phone number and make sure that your email address is correct, since this will be used for ALL further contact during the data collection. You may also designate a different keyholder at this time and you may request additional IDs and passwords for other users if your institution has more than one person who will need access to the system. You may request up to six (6) additional UserIDs and passwords when you register. All additional users will be required to again register this year, but only the keyholder must register by August 25.

2010-11 Data Collection

A quick overview of the 2010-11 IPEDS data collection is provided below. For a more detailed schedule, use the Help menu in the data collection system.

Registration Period 2010-11 (Institution Identification, IC Header)

**NEW THIS YEAR** During the registration period (August 4, 2010-September 7, 2010), institutions are encouraged BUT NOT REQUIRED to complete the Institution Identification page and the IC Header questions. These two items must be completed before the Fall survey components can be started. The IC Header is available until the end of the Fall collection. Institution Identification is available through Spring.

Fall 2010 (Institutional Characteristics, Completions, and 12-month Enrollment):

Opens September 8, 2010

Closes October 20, 2010 for Keyholders

Winter 2010-11 (Human Resources):

Opens December 8, 2010

Closes January 26, 2011 for Keyholders

Spring 2011 (Fall Enrollment, Finance, Graduation Rates, Student Financial Aid, and Graduation Rates 200%):

***Opens December 8, 2010***

Closes April 13, 2011 for Keyholders

Data Availability for 2009-10 Collection:

The 2009-10 IPEDS data collection was very successful and the data submitted by the institutions during Fall, Winter, and Spring are currently available through the IPEDS Data Center. Additionally, we continue to update the College Navigator website with new data as they become available. Both the tools can be accessed from the IPEDS homepage at: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds.

We hope you enjoy the rest of the summer and thank you in advance for your assistance in making IPEDS a success. If you need additional information, please call the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568 or email them at ipedshelp@rti.org.

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 6. Registration Email to Multi-Keyholders

Subject: IPEDS 2010-11 Registration Information - <UserID>

August 4, 2010

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

The success of the IPEDS data collection and quality of the IPEDS data depend, in large part, on your efforts. Thank you in advance for your work this coming year.

Keyholder Registration:

******************************************

UserID: <UserID>

Temporary Password: <PW>

******************************************

When registering in the system, please be sure that your registration information is correct. Verify your phone number and make sure that your email address is correct, since this will be used for ALL further contact during the data collection. You may also designate a different keyholder at this time and you may request additional IDs and passwords for other users if your institution has more than one person who will need access to the system. You may request up to six (6) additional UserIDs and passwords when you register. All additional users will again be required to register this year, but only the keyholder must register by August 25.

2010-11 Data Collection

A quick overview of the 2010-11 IPEDS data collection is provided below. For a more detailed schedule, use the Help menu in the data collection system.

Registration Period 2010-11 (Institution Identification, IC Header)

Fall 2010 (Institutional Characteristics, Completions, and 12-month Enrollment):

Opens September 8, 2010

Closes October 20, 2010 for Keyholders

Winter 2010-11 (Human Resources):

Opens December 8, 2010

Closes January 26, 2011 for Keyholders

Spring 2011 (Fall Enrollment, Finance, Graduation Rates, Student Financial Aid, and Graduation Rates 200%):

***Opens December 8, 2010***

Closes April 13, 2011 for Keyholders

Data Availability for 2009-10 Collection:

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 7. Registration Email to Coordinators

Subject: IPEDS 2010-11 Registration Information - <UserID>

August 4, 2010

Dear IPEDS Coordinator:

Welcome! Once again, it is time to issue new UserIDs/Passwords and prepare for the upcoming 2010-11 collection year. At this time, the data from the Spring 2010 IPEDS web-based data collection are currently available through the IPEDS Data Center on the IPEDS web site at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds and we are continuing to update the College Navigator website as well.

At the bottom of this email is a copy of what is being sent to the keyholders who were registered last year. Please take time to read it because it contains additional information that is NOT in your email. As you can see, we continue to emphasize compliance with the Title IV requirements. The Office of Federal Student Aid is taking noncompliance very seriously; they are in the process of sending warning letters to some institutions and fine notices to others that did not fully comply for the 2009-10 collection year.

Below are the UserID and Password you will use to access the IPEDS Web-based data collection system and register for the 2010-11 collection cycle. This is a TEMPORARY password and you will need to create your own password when logging in.

******************************************

Your UserID: <UserID>

Your Temporary Password: <PW>

******************************************

Online Registration is now open. Coordinators must register at http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/IPEDS. Please confirm your registration for 2010-11 after logging in and changing your password. You should verify or update your specific contact information, and make sure that your email address is correct since this will be used for ALL further contact during the data collection. If your office has more than one person who will need access to the system, you may request up to six (6) additional UserIDs and Passwords when you register. All additional users will again be required to register this year, but only the keyholder must register by August 25.

The following is provided to help you plan for the 2010-11 IPEDS data collection. For a more detailed schedule, use the Help menu in the data collection system.

Registration Period 2010-11 (Institution Identification, IC Header)

Fall 2010 (Institutional Characteristics, Completions, and 12-month Enrollment):

Opens September 8, 2010

Closes October 20, 2010 for Keyholders and November 3, 2010 for Coordinators.

Winter 2010-11 (Human Resources):

Opens December 8, 2010

Closes January 26, 2011 for Keyholders and February 9, 2011, for Coordinators.

Spring 2011 (Fall Enrollment, Finance, Graduation Rates, Student Financial Aid, and Graduation Rates 200%):

***Opens December 8, 2010***

Closes April 13, 2011 and April 27, 2011 for Coordinators.

We hope that you enjoy the rest of the summer and thank you in advance for your continued support in making IPEDS successful. If you need additional information or help with registration, please call the IPEDS Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568 or email them at ipedshelp@rti.org. If you have questions about Coordinator roles and responsibilities within IPEDS, please contact Janice Plotczyk at 202-502-7459 or Janice.Plotczyk@ed.gov.

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

1990 K Street, NW - Room 8113C Washington, DC 20006

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Below is the text for the email being sent to Keyholders:

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

The success of the IPEDS data collection and quality of the IPEDS data depend, in large part, on your efforts. Thank you in advance for your work this coming year.

Keyholder Registration:

******************************************

UserID: <UserID>

Temporary Password: <PW>

******************************************

When registering in the system, please be sure that your registration information is correct. Verify your phone number and make sure that your email address is correct, since this will be used for ALL further contact during the data collection. You may also designate a different keyholder at this time and you may request additional IDs and passwords for other users if your institution has more than one person who will need access to the system. You may request up to six (6) additional UserIDs and passwords when you register. All additional users will again be required to register this year, but only the keyholder must register by August 25.

2010-11 Data Collection

A quick overview of the 2010-11 IPEDS data collection is provided below. For a more detailed schedule, use the Help menu in the data collection system.

Registration Period 2010-11 (Institution Identification, IC Header)

Fall 2010 (Institutional Characteristics, Completions, and 12-month Enrollment):

Opens September 8, 2010

Closes October 20, 2010 for Keyholders

Winter 2010-11 (Human Resources):

Opens December 8, 2010

Closes January 26, 2011 for Keyholders

Spring 2011 (Fall Enrollment, Finance, Graduation Rates, Student Financial Aid, and Graduation Rates 200%):

***Opens December 8, 2010***

Closes April 13, 2011 for Keyholders

Data Availability for 2009-10 Collection:

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 8. New Keyholder Welcome package/Email

Subject: IPEDS Information for New Keyholders

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

Welcome to IPEDS! As a new IPEDS Keyholder, you have an important job. The quality and accuracy of your institution’s IPEDS data depend on you.

IPEDS data are a public face of your institution. They are used by students and parents, through the College Navigator website, to aid in the college search process; at the federal, state, and local level for policy analysis and development; at the institutional level for benchmarking and peer analysis; and by professional associations, private businesses, and the media. In a minute we’ll talk about how you can access the IPEDS data you submit for use at your campus.

Resources:

There are many resources available to assist you with the completion of your surveys.

Most of the information you’ll need can be found from the Data Provider Center website, at https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/. All this information can also be found from the Help menu in the data collection system.

The first thing we suggest you do is to familiarize yourself with the data collection schedule for the year. The 2010-11 data collection schedule is shown below. Please remember that deadline extensions are NOT available.

Fall 2010: September 8, 2010 – October 20, 2010

Winter 2010-11: December 8, 2010 – January 26, 2011

Spring 2011: December 8, 2010 – April 13, 2011

Next, you’ll probably want to familiarize yourself with the data you’ll need to submit. Using the Survey Materials option, you can access blank survey forms, instructions, FAQs, and edit and import specifications, so that you can prepare your data for submission, and alert others at your institution to the data you’ll need them to provide to you for submission. Seasoned keyholders will tell you that it’s best to start early so that you aren’t trying to find and report all the data in a last-minute crunch. Also, if you submit your data prior to the last three weeks before data collection closes, we’ll send an email to your president or CEO alerting them to your accomplishment.

Much IPEDS data (enrollments, program completers, staff counts) are submitted by race and ethnicity. New race and ethnicity reporting categories are required by the 2010-11 reporting period for some surveys, and by 2011-12 for the rest. If you need assistance with this conversion at your institution, you can find assistance at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/reic/resource.asp.

Finally, the most important resource will be the IPEDS Help Desk, which can be reached at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org. If you have any questions about IPEDS, please contact them for assistance. They’re there to help you get your IPEDS data submitted accurately and on time.

Training opportunities:

The Association for Institutional Research has developed specialized training materials to assist you. There are free, web-based tutorials available to help you understand how IPEDS works and assist you in understanding the different survey forms. We encourage you to check out the one specifically designed for new keyholders now, and to view the tutorials for each IPEDS survey component as your prepare to report the different surveys. . These are available at http://www.airweb.org/?page=819.

Free face-to-face workshops are also held in various parts of the country throughout the year. You can see the list of workshops and locations at http://www.airweb.org/?page=819. Registration priority is given to keyholders, and some travel assistance is available.

Data Dissemination:

The data you submit to IPEDS are made available to the public through the IPEDS web-based data use tools:

Your institution will be included on the College Navigator website (http://collegenavigator.ed.gov), a college search tool designed for parents, prospective students, and high school counselors.
The IPEDS Data Feedback Report, produced annually, compares your institution to a group of similar institutions on a number of indicators. This report is sent to your institution’s CEO, but is also available to anyone through the Executive Peer Tool (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/).
IPEDS data are tabulated at the national, state, and sector level; tables are available through the Tables Library (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/tables_library/).
And you can access data for your institution and all other IPEDS-participating institutions at the IPEDS Data Center (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/), where you can compare institutional data, create reports, download data files, and more!

The IPEDS Data Tools Help Desk is available to answer questions about all these tools, and can be reached at 1-866-558-0658 or ipedstools@rti.org.

Finally, thank you in advance for your work during the 2010-11 IPEDS Data Collection. If you need additional information, please call the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568 or email them at ipedshelp@rti.org .

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 9. Registration +2 Weeks Keyholder Reminder Email

Subject: IPEDS Reminder- Keyholder Registration Required – <UnitID>

August 18, 2010

Dear Keyholder:

As of this morning, you have not registered as Keyholder for the upcoming 2010-11 IPEDS collection. Please remember that all Keyholders must register by August 25 in order to avoid a reminder letter being sent to the institution’s Chief Executive. If you did not receive an email, on August 4, containing your 2010-11 registration information, please contact the IPEDS Help Desk. If you will not be the keyholder for this collection year, please forward this email to the appropriate person(s). Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

The registration site is available at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/

Once you have registered, all 2010-11 survey forms, instructions, upload specifications, and other information can be accessed through the Help menu (click on Survey Materials) in the data collection system. These materials are also available at: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/submit_data/ (click on Survey Materials).

The Fall data collection will open on September 8, 2010.

IPEDS Help Desk

Toll Free 1-877-225-2568

ipedshelp@rti.org

Exhibit 10. Registration +3 Weeks Reminder Letter to CEOs

August 25, 2010

ceo_name

ceo_title

institution_name

addr1_txt

city_txt, state_cd zip_text

Dear Chief Executive Officer:

Because of the importance of the IPEDS surveys, we will contact you again if your keyholder has not registered by September 22, 2010. Registration is currently open, and the data collection periods are scheduled as follows:

Fall 2010: September 8, 2010 – October 20, 2010

Winter 2010-11: December 8, 2010 – January 26, 2011

Spring 2011: December 8, 2010 – April 13, 2011

The results of the 2009-10 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) web-based data collections are currently available through the IPEDS Data Center and the College Navigator website. Links to these data tools are on the IPEDS web site at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds.

Sincerely,

Thomas Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

National Center for Education Statistics

Attachments

unitid

Exhibit 11. Annual Update Email to IPEDS Coordinators

Subject: IPEDS Update - Important Information for Coordinators

August 25, 2010

Dear IPEDS Coordinator:

Welcome back to IPEDS! The 2010-11 data collection year is now underway, and the Fall collection opens next week. As we begin this collection year, we’d like to thank you for your continued support of IPEDS. We are well aware of the many contributions, and long hours of work, that go into making sure the data provided by your institutions are timely and accurate.

As you know, there is a lot going on with IPEDS this year. Here are some of the key issues:

IC Header: This year, IC Header information will be available for reporting during the registration period (which opened August 4, 2010). Institutions are encouraged BUT NOT REQUIRED to complete the IC Header questions during the registration period. The IC Header questions must be locked before the Fall survey components can be started.
First-Professional Degrees: Use of the new postbaccalaureate degree categories will be mandatory in 2010-11. This means that the First-professional Degree and Certificate categories will disappear completely from IPEDS reporting. This affects the following components, for 4-year institutions only: IC, C, E12, and EF.
Net Price Calculator: There is an HEOA requirement for institutions to provide a Net Price Calculator, on their individual websites, no later than October 29, 2011. The IPEDS template and additional information are available at: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/news_room/ana_netprice_1029.asp
Race/Ethnicity: This is the final year for using the old R/E reporting categories in E12, C, and GRS. The new R/E reporting categories are mandatory in EF and HR.
New version of CIP: The use of CIP 2010, will be required with the reporting of Completions, EF, and IC in Fall 2010. The CIP website is located at: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cip2010, and has some nifty tools for helping with the transition.

State coordinators should view the report (within the collection system) entitled “State List of Institutions not Coordinated by Your Office” in order to determine if there are any institutions new to IPEDS that need to be added to your coordination list.

As always, please contact the IPEDS Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org, if you need to add or delete institutions in your coordination list, or need to modify locking orders for any of your institutions.

Thanks again, and we look forward to another year of working with you.

Janice Plotczyk

IPEDS Coordinator Liaison

National Center for Education Statistics

janice.plotczyk@ed.gov

Exhibit 12. Fall Opening Announcement Email

Subject: IPEDS Fall Data Collection Now Open

September 8, 2010

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

The Fall 2010 IPEDS web-based data collection is now open, and will remain open to Keyholders through October 20, 2010.

You can access the collection site at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds OR you may use the main IPEDS website at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds and follow the links to the data provider center.

-- Use your 2010-11 UserID and password (emailed to you, or mailed to your institution's CEO, in early August). Keyholder UserIDs begin with “P” or “88G.”

-- If you have a keyholder change, be sure to change the contact information in the registration screen, which can be found under the Tools menu.

-- All institutions MUST complete and lock the Institutional Characteristics (IC) component, the Completions (C) component, and 12-month Enrollment (E12) component.

Note that the collection will close on October 20, 2010 and we are unable to accept late data submissions.

The following assistance is available to you as you prepare your institution’s data submissions:

-- The IPEDS Help Desk is available to assist you at any time during the collection cycle. Please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568 or ipedshelp@rti.org if you have any questions about the IPEDS system.

-- Copies of the survey forms, instructions, file upload specifications, and frequently asked questions are available in the collection system under the Help menu, click on Survey Materials.

-- The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) has free IPEDS training tutorials available at http://www.airweb.org, click on IPEDS.

Remember that the completion of all IPEDS surveys, in a timely and accurate manner, is mandatory for all institutions that participate or are applicants for participation in any Federal financial assistance program authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended. IPEDS surveys are mandated by 20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(17). Institutions have been fined for failing to submit complete surveys on time.

To assist you in meeting this requirement, NCES has established a rigorous follow-up schedule. PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE. You will be prompted ONLY IF YOUR SURVEY SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT COMPLETE.

In order to complete all requirements for data submission, keyholders must LOCK each survey.

-- Under "Steps to Locking," be sure to run "Perform Edits" and resolve any errors.

-- When activated (underlined), click "Lock" and follow the instructions.

-- Please be sure to check your Survey status to make sure that it reads Locked or Complete after you have locked your data.

-- Use the "Am I Done" feature to ensure that you have completed all required surveys.

Please be sure to provide a current email address for your institution’s Chief Executive (CEO) on your Institution Identification page, as it may be necessary to send IPEDS-related information to your CEO. Keyholders will always be copied on any such email correspondence. For example, NCES will send an email acknowledgement to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of those institutions that lock all of their required survey components prior to the final three weeks of the collection. Although we realize that it is not always possible for the IPEDS data to be submitted this early, we do appreciate the efforts of those individuals who can, and do, complete their data entry early in the collection. As such, we want to recognize the efforts of those individuals.

You can also correct or update any data that were submitted during last year’s collection using the IPEDS Prior Year Data Revision system at http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds_py/. Use your current UserID and password for access.

Finally, please note that Keyholders may “opt out” of receiving some of the scheduled IPEDS reminders during the collection. To participate in the “opt out” opportunity, login to the collection system, go to the Tools menu and select “Follow-up Opt Out”. After reading the instructions, choose the radio button as appropriate. This action must be repeated for EACH collection period, if you choose to continue opting out. Note that new Keyholders cannot opt out, and all IPEDS compliance requirements still apply (e.g., institutions will not be granted extensions for failure to meet the reporting deadline).

Remember, if you have any questions or need help at any time during the collection cycle, you can contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or send them an email at ipedshelp@rti.org.

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 13. One Last Chance Reminder Letter to CEOs

September 15, 2010

Dear Chief Executive Officer:

As you know, completion of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) survey components is a requirement of your institution’s continued participation in Title IV Federal student financial aid programs. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is charged with conducting the IPEDS data collection, and provides support to participating institutions in this effort. Toward this end, NCES grants every institution ONE (and only one) opportunity to submit survey data beyond the specified deadline for any of the three annual IPEDS data collection periods.

Your institution, <institution_name>, benefitted from this “one opportunity” during the <period_year> data collection. During that collection period, the IPEDS Help Desk accepted post-deadline data and entered it into the IPEDS data collection system on behalf of your institution. This letter serves as a reminder that NCES will not again accept late data during this, the 2010-11 data collection year, or future data collection years. We are copying your institution’s IPEDS keyholder, <KH_name>, on this letter so that he or she is also aware of this notification.

The importance of your institution’s compliance with this reporting responsibility cannot be overstated. Please be aware that responses to the IPEDS surveys are mandated for those institutions that participate or expect to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs under Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), 20 U.S.C. §1094(a)(17) and the Department of Education’s regulations at 34 C.F.R. §668.14(b)(19). As a condition of continued participation in the federal student aid programs, all institutions must complete, in a timely manner and to the satisfaction of the Secretary, all surveys conducted as a part of the IPEDS. According to the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), an institution’s failure to complete and submit these surveys is a serious violation of its obligations under the HEA and the regulations, and appropriate action will be taken by FSA.

If you have any questions about this issue, please feel free to contact the IPEDS Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568 or ipedshelp@rti.org for further information or clarification.

Sincerely,

Thomas Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

National Center for Education Statistics

cc: <KH_name>

Exhibit 14. Fall Registration Close -4 Weeks Reminder Letter to CEOs

September 22, 2010

ceo_name

ceo_title

institution_name

addr1_txt

city_txt, state_cd zip_text

Dear Chief Executive Officer:

Because of the importance of the IPEDS surveys, we will contact you again if your keyholder has not registered by September 29, 2010. Registration is currently open, and the data collection periods are scheduled as follows:

Fall 2010: September 8, 2010 – October 20, 2010

Winter 2010-11: December 8, 2010 – January 26, 2011

Spring 2011: December 8, 2010 – April 13, 2011

The results of the 2009-10 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) web-based data collections are currently available through the IPEDS Data Center, and the College Navigator website. Links to all of these data tools are on the IPEDS web site at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds.

Sincerely,

Thomas Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

Attachments

unitid

Exhibit 15. Fall Close -4 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholders

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Fall Collection Closes in Four Weeks

September 22, 2010

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

Although there are four weeks remaining in the Fall 2010 IPEDS data collection, please be aware that we are scheduled to close promptly on October 20, 2010. Currently, our records indicate that you have not begun to enter information for the Fall surveys that are required of your institution. All institutions are required to complete the Institutional Characteristics, the Completions, and the 12-Month Enrollment survey components.

While we understand that you are busy with many other responsibilities, we would strongly encourage you to enter and lock your data as soon as possible. As you know, under Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, completion of the IPEDS surveys is an integral part of your institution's Program Participation Agreement (PPA) with the Department of Education.

We will be sending additional email reminders on October 6 and October 13. Also on October 6, we will begin calling the CEOs of institutions where keyholders have not begun entering data.

The IPEDS web-based collection system is located at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds and if you have questions concerning accessing the system, or entering, editing, or locking your data, please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org.

Please do not disregard this email! If you believe that you have received this message in error, please contact the Help Desk. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 16. Fall CEO Close -3 Weeks Early-Completer Thank-You Email

Subject: IPEDS Thanks You for Early Response - <UnitID>

September 29, 2010

Dear Chief Executive:

The National Center of Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Education, would like to extend its appreciation to your institution, and especially to your IPEDS Keyholder, <keyholder_name>. As of today (three weeks prior to the close of the Fall data collection), all of the required IPEDS surveys for your institution, <institution name>, have been entered, edited, and locked.

Because IPEDS is a very large data collection involving a large number of institutions, completing the surveys and locking them early during the collection period is extremely helpful. Providing IPEDS data is a major undertaking, and we want you to know that we truly appreciate the timely response. We hope that you will pass along our word of gratitude to your Keyholder, as he or she is the one who is typically charged with overseeing the successful data entry and completion of the mandatory IPEDS surveys.

Again, please accept our thanks to you and your staff for your important contributions to the success of IPEDS.

Sincerely,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 17. Fall CEO Call Script for No Registered Keyholder

CEO Calls to Title IV Institutions - No Registered Keyholder

Guidelines and Script

Fall 2010

In an effort to get the remaining Title IV schools to register for IPEDS, beginning September 29, we will be making calls to those schools who have not registered. We have outlined some guidelines to follow when making these calls. Each of you will be getting a list of schools to work sorted by sector.

Goals of these calls:

Get the school to register for IPEDS as soon as possible and remind them of the deadline for IPEDS submission of October 20; or
Get a good reason for why the school should not be included in IPEDS

List of Sectors:

Central Office Administrative Unit
4-year public
4-year private, not-for-profit
4-year private, for-profit
2-year public
2-year private, not-for-profit
2-year private, for-profit
Less than 2-year public
Less than 2- year private, not-for-profit
Less than 2-year private, for-profit

(99) New Institution

Guidelines to follow for contacting CEOs:

Check Status of the school to see if it is still showing up as not registered. If they have registered since the list was generated, you do not need to call, but be sure to document why the call was NOT made.
CHECK COMMENTS THOROUGHLY to see if any reason for the school not being registered. If a reason is given, you may not need to call them. For example, if they called us and said that they are no longer Title-IV, and the incident is pending review by project staff, you do not need to make the call.
When you call the school, you will first ask to speak with the CEO (get his/her name from the Institution Identification page). If you cannot reach the CEO, please leave him/her a message but ALSO try to reach the Keyholder from last year (if there was one). Be sure to introduce yourself as being from the IPEDS help desk and state that you are following up regarding registration for the IPEDS data collection. An example script is shown below.
In rare cases, the CEO may give you a reason why they do not think they need to register or participate in IPEDS. Keep good notes and document them in the Help Desk Application (HDA) thoroughly, then contact a project staff person.
You MAY also get some schools that submit combined data. As you know, these schools need to submit their own IC, and the completions surveys can be combined. If the school is part of a parent-child relationship, but does not appear that way in the system, get the details of the arrangement so that we can set them up properly in the system.

Example script for contacting CEOs:

Hello, my name is ________, calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Fall Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME)?

IF CEO IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE CEO CALL THE IPEDS HOTLINE (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF CEO IS AVAILABLE:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (CEO NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Fall Data Collection. In August and September, we sent letters to you requesting that you appoint a keyholder for the IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System). Your keyholder has not registered for the Fall data collection which opened on September 8. [IF there is an unregistered keyholder in the system, tell the CEO who that person is. If not, ask:] Have you appointed a keyholder?

IF YES:

We need for the keyholder to register and begin data collection immediately in order to meet the October 20 deadline for the data collection. Would you be able to follow-up with the keyholder? Or if you prefer, you can give me that name and phone number of the keyholder and I will be happy to call them.

IF NO:

We need for you to appoint a keyholder immediately so they can register and begin data collection. The deadline for the collection is October 20. If you could give me the name and phone number of that person now, I will be happy to call them and provide them with the ID and password necessary for them to register and begin data collection.

OBTAIN KEYHOLDER NAME AND PHONE NUMBER IF POSSIBLE AND FOLLOWUP WITH THAT PERSON.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IF NECESSARY:

According to Section 490 of the Higher Education Amendments of 1992, completion of the IPEDS surveys is an important part of your institution’s Program Participation Agreement (PPA) with the Department of Education and is mandatory for participation in federal student financial assistance programs.

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Exhibit 18. Fall Keyholder/CEO Call Script for No Data Entered

“NO DATA” Script: Keyholder/CEO Calls to Registered

Title IV Institutions with no survey data entered

Fall 2010 Collection

Guidelines and Script

In an effort to get the remaining Title IV schools to enter their IPEDS data, beginning October 6, we will be making calls to those schools that have not entered any survey data for their required surveys. I have outlined some guidelines to follow when making these calls. Each of you will be getting a list of schools assigned to you in the Help Desk Application (HDA).

Goals of these calls:

Get the school to begin data entry as soon as possible and remind them of the deadline for Fall IPEDS submission of October 20; or
Get a good reason for why the school should not be included in IPEDS.

ALL calls must be thoroughly documented in the call log in the HDA.

Guidelines to follow for contacting keyholder and/or CEOs:

Check Status of the school in the Data Collection System (DCS) to determine if the school is still showing up as not having data entered (i.e. status of “NO DATA”) for the Institutional Characteristics (IC), 12-Month Enrollment (E12), and Completions (C) surveys.
There is a feature in HDA which automatically takes schools off your list as the schools start entering data, but you should still check the status in the DCS before making the call.
If they have begun entering data (i.e. “No Data,” “has data,” “edited,” “clean,” “locked,” or “complete” as the status the ANY of the surveys) since the time that list was generated they do NOT need to be called (but document this reason in the call log when resolving the incident).

CHECK HDA COMMENTS THOROUGHLY to see if there is any reason for the school not making progress. If a valid reason is given, you do not need to call them (e.g. we are determining if they are still Title-IV eligible). However, enter a comment explaining that you reviewed the comments and explaining WHY you are not calling.

When you call the school, you will ask to speak FIRST with the keyholder (KH). If the keyholder is no longer employed there, or is unavailable, then you will ask to speak with the CEO.
The Keyholder name and phone number can be located in the HDA (contacts screen) or in the collection system (DCS) in the “user” screen,
The CEO name and phone number is located in the DCS in the “Institution Identification” screen.

Be sure to introduce yourself as being from the IPEDS helpdesk and state that you are following up regarding data entry for the IPEDS Fall data collection. An example script is shown below.

The keyholder or CEO may give you a reason why they do not think they need to participate in IPEDS. There should, however, be VERY few acceptable reasons. If they try to give you such a reason, please keep good notes and CONTACT Amy Lister (x23403), or Jamie Isaac (x26342).

If the KH or CEO says that the data are being combined with another school, or that the school has closed, seek help from a Team Leader or Project Staff to determine how to handle the specific situation.

Although you will only be calling schools with Keyholders, you should note that there are also users called “coordinators” and they have a later deadline of November 3. If someone tells you that their deadline is November 3, seek help from a colleague to make sure they understand if they are really a coordinator or not.
Keyholder UserIDs start with “P” or “88G.” Any other IDs (starting with a 2-digit number) are “coordinator” users.

Example script for contacting Keyholders and CEOs:

First, try to contact the Keyholder:

Hello, my name is ________, calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Fall Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (Keyholder NAME)?

IF keyholder IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back? Or is there someone else I can talk to about the IPEDS Fall data collection?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE Keyholder/CEO CALL THE IPEDS Help Desk (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF Keyholder is available:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (KH NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Fall Data Collection. ***Please note that all calls from the Help Desk may be monitored for quality control purposes*** As of today, we see that you have not yet begun entering data. We wanted to make sure you were aware of the October 20 deadline. Is there anything I can help you with to assure that you are able to meet this deadline?

(If “NO”): Please remember that the deadline for the study is October 20 and that participation is mandatory for schools that participate in Title IV student financial aid programs. The IPEDS Help Desk will be open Oct. 11 - Oct. 20 from 8:30am-8pm weekdays, 10am-6pm Saturday Oct. 16 & 1:30pm-6pm Sunday Oct. 17. Thank you very much and have a nice day.

(If “YES”) Answer any questions they may have.

If keyholder is unavailable, try to contact the CEO.

Hello, my name is ________, calling for the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Fall Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME)?

IF CEO IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back? Or is there someone else I can talk to about the Fall data collection?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE CEO CALL THE IPEDS HOTLINE (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF CEO IS AVAILABLE:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (CEO NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Fall Data Collection. ****Please note that all calls from the Help Desk may be monitored for quality control purposes.****As of today, your school has not yet begun entering data. We wanted to make sure you are aware of the October 20 deadline. I tried contacting your keyholder, Dr/Mr/Ms (KH Name), but was unable to reach him/her.

We would very much appreciate your help because the surveys must be completed by October 20 and they are mandatory for schools that participate in Title IV student financial aid programs.

Is there anything I can help you with to assure that you are able to meet the October 20 deadline?

(If “NO”): Then thank you very much for reminding your keyholder, and have a nice day.

(If “YES”) Answer any questions they may have.

*** A checkbox has been added in HDA. Once the script has been read, indicating that the call may be monitored for quality control purposes, the box should be checked, and this part of the script does not need to be read during future calls to the school.

IF CEO THINKS SCHOOL IS OUT OF SCOPE FOR IPEDS, OBTAIN REASON AND RECORD DETAILS. Contact Amy Lister or Jamie Isaac with this information.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IF NECESSARY:

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Exhibit 19. Fall Close -2 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholder for “No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked”

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Fall Collection Closes in Two Weeks

October 6, 2010

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

The Fall 2010 IPEDS data collection is scheduled to close in just two weeks, on October 20. Currently, our records indicate that you have not yet locked the required surveys that are being conducted this Fall.

All institutions are required to complete the Institutional Characteristics (IC), Completions (C), and 12-Month Enrollment (E12) components.

Please remember that you must lock each survey for it to be considered a response. Use the "Am I Done?" feature to confirm that all of your required surveys are locked.

While we understand that you are busy with many other responsibilities, we would strongly encourage you to enter and lock your data as soon as possible. Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, requires that, as a condition of continued participation in the federal student aid programs, all institutions must complete the IPEDS surveys.

At this time, the Help Desk is beginning to call the CEOs of Title IV institutions that have not yet begun entering any data. In order to avoid receiving such a call, please begin entering your data as soon as possible. Following today's email reminder, we will send one additional email reminder, on October 13, to ensure your compliance with the collection deadline date of October 20, 2010.

The data collection website is located at http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds. If you have questions concerning accessing the system, or entering, editing, or locking your data, please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org. The help desk will operate extended hours starting October 11 and continuing through the end of the collection on October 20: Weekdays 8:30am to 8:00pm, Saturday (October 16) 10:00am to 6:00pm, and Sunday (October 17) 1:30pm to 6:00pm, all times are Eastern.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Sincerely,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 20. Fall Close -1 Week Reminder Email to Keyholder for “No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys are Not Locked”

**Note: The CEO will be copied on this email IF the institution is on the “special call” list having missed a collection deadline during the prior 2 collection years.

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Fall Collection Closes in One Week

October 13, 2010

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

As of today, your institution had not completed its required IPEDS Fall 2010 survey components. The Institutional Characteristics (IC), Completions (C) and 12-Month Enrollment (E12) components are required for all institutions.

You can access the data collection site at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds. Log into the system and click on the "Am I Done?" link at the top of your institution's survey list to see which surveys you need to complete.

Please do NOT ignore this email but if you feel you have received it in error, call the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568.

The Fall 2010 data collection will close to keyholders on Wednesday, October 20, 2010, at midnight Pacific Time. You will not be able to submit, edit, or lock data after that date and NO extensions can be granted. Please remember that each survey component must be locked to be considered a response. If you have not locked the required IPEDS survey components by October 20, your institution will be referred to the office of Federal Student Aid for appropriate action.

Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, requires that, as a condition of continued participation in the federal student aid programs, all institutions must complete the IPEDS surveys.

If you have questions concerning accessing the system, or entering, editing, or locking your data, please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org. The help desk will be operating extended hours through the end of the collection on October 20: Weekdays 8:30am to 8:00pm, Saturday (October 16) 10:00am to 6:00pm and Sunday (October 17) 1:30pm to 5:00pm, all times are Eastern.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Sincerely,

Tom Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 21. Winter Opening Announcement Email

Subject: IPEDS Winter AND Spring Data Collections Now Open

December 8, 2010

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

Both the Winter 2010-11 and Spring 2011 web-based data collections are now open. The Winter collection will remain open through January 26, 2011, and the Spring collection will remain open through April 13, 2011.

You can access the collection site at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/IPEDS using your 2010-11 UserID and password (the same one you used for the Fall 2010 collection) to access the system.

For the Winter collection:

- All institutions MUST complete the Human Resources (HR) component by January 26, 2011.

For the Spring collection:

- All institutions MUST complete the Finance (F) and Fall Enrollment (EF) components, and most institutions must complete the, Student Financial Aid (SFA), Graduation Rates (GRS), and Graduation Rate 200% (GR200) components. These survey components must be completed by April 13, 2011.

Please make a note of the reporting deadlines for these survey components. We are unable to accept late data submissions.

The following assistance is available to you as you prepare your institution’s data submissions:

- The IPEDS Help Desk is available to assist you at any time during the collection cycle. Please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568 or ipedshelp@rti.org if you have any questions about the IPEDS system.

- Copies of the survey forms, instructions, file upload specifications, and frequently asked questions are available in the collection system under the Help menu.

- The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) has free IPEDS training Webinars available at http://www.airweb.org, click on IPEDS.

In order to complete all requirements for data submission, keyholders must LOCK each survey.

- Under "Steps to Locking," be sure to run "Perform Edits" and resolve any errors.

- When activated (underlined), click "Lock" and follow the instructions.

- Please be sure to check your Survey status to make sure that it reads Locked or Complete after you have locked your data.

- Use the "Am I Done" feature to ensure that you have completed all required surveys.

If you did not do so during the Fall data collection, please be sure to provide a current email address for your institution’s Chief Executive (CEO) on your Institution Identification page, as it may be necessary to send IPEDS-related information to your CEO. Keyholders will always be copied on any such email correspondence.

NCES will send an email acknowledgement to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of those institutions that lock all of their required survey components prior to the final three weeks of the collection. Although we realize that it is not always possible for the IPEDS data to be submitted this early, we do appreciate the efforts of those individuals who can, and do, complete their data entry early in the collection. As such, we want to recognize the efforts of those individuals. If your institution changes keyholders at any time during the year, be sure to change the contact information on the registration screen, which can be found under "Tools."

You can correct or update any data that were submitted during last year’s collection using the IPEDS Prior Year Data Revision system at http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds_py/. Use your current UserID and password for access.

Finally, please note that Keyholders may “opt-out” of receiving some of the scheduled IPEDS reminders during the collection. To participate in the “opt-out” opportunity, login to the collection system, go to the Tools menu and select “Follow-up Opt Out”. After reading the instructions, choose the radio button as appropriate. This action must be repeated for EACH collection period, if you choose to continue opting-out. Note that new Keyholders cannot opt-out, and all IPEDS compliance requirements still apply (e.g. institutions will not be granted extensions for failure to meet the reporting deadline).

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 22. Winter Registration Close -4 Weeks Reminder Letter to CEOs

December 29, 2010

ceo_name

ceo_title

institution_name

addr1_txt

city_txt, state_cd zip_text

Dear Chief Executive Officer:

Your institution currently does not have a designated keyholder for the upcoming 2010-11 collection cycle. So that your institution does not miss any additional reporting deadlines, it is essential that you appoint one at this time, and forward the enclosed materials to that individual. The success of the IPEDS data collection and quality of the IPEDS data depend, in large part, on the efforts of your institution’s keyholder.

The data collection periods for the 2010-11 IPEDS collection year are scheduled as follows:

Fall 2010: September 8, 2010 – October 20, 2010

Winter 2010-11: December 8, 2010 – January 26, 2011

Spring 2011: December 8, 2010 – April 13, 2011

Sincerely,

Thomas Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

Attachments

unitid

Exhibit 23. Winter Close -4 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholders

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Winter Collection Closes in Four Weeks

December 29, 2010

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

There are four weeks remaining in the Winter 2010-11 IPEDS data collection, and we are scheduled to close promptly on January 26, 2011.

Currently, our records indicate that you have not begun to enter information for the Human Resources (HR) survey component which is required of your institution.

We will be sending additional email reminders on January 12 and 19. Also on January 12, we will begin calling the CEOs of institutions where keyholders have not begun entering Human Resources data.

The IPEDS web-based collection system is located at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds. If you have questions concerning accessing the system, or entering, editing, or locking your data, please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org.

Please do not disregard this email! If you believe that you have received this message in error, please contact the Help Desk. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 24. Winter CEO Close -3 Weeks Early-Completer Thank-You Email

Subject: IPEDS Thanks You for Early Response - <UnitID>

January 5, 2011

Dear Chief Executive:

The National Center of Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Education, would like to extend its appreciation to your institution, and especially to your IPEDS Keyholder, <keyholder>. As of today (three weeks prior to the close of the Winter data collection), the required IPEDS Human Resources survey for your institution, <institution name>, has been entered, edited, and locked.

Again, please accept our thanks to you and your staff for your important contributions to the success of IPEDS.

Sincerely,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 25. Winter CEO Call Script for No Registered Keyholder

CEO Calls to Title IV Institutions - No Registered Keyholder

Guidelines and Script

Winter 2010-11

In an effort to get the remaining Title IV schools to register for IPEDS, beginning on January 5, we will be making calls to those schools who have not registered. We have outlined some guidelines to follow when making these calls. Each of you will be getting a list of schools to work sorted by sector.

Goals of these calls:

Get the school to register for IPEDS as soon as possible and remind them of the deadline for IPEDS submission of January 26; or
Get a good reason for why the school should not be included in IPEDS

List of Sectors:

Central Office Administrative Unit
4-year public
4-year private, not-for-profit
4-year private, for-profit
2-year public
2-year private, not-for-profit
2-year private, for-profit
Less than 2-year public
Less than 2- year private, not-for-profit
Less than 2-year private, for-profit

(99) New Institution

Guidelines to follow for contacting CEOs:

Check Status of the school to see if it is still showing up as not registered. If they have registered since the list was generated, you do not need to call, but be sure to document why the call was NOT made.
CHECK COMMENTS THOROUGHLY to see if any reason for the school not being registered. If a reason is given, you may not need to call them. For example, if they called us and said that they are no longer Title-IV, and the incident is pending review by project staff, you do not need to make the call.
When you call the school, you will first ask to speak with the CEO (get his/her name from the Institution Identification page). If you cannot reach the CEO, please leave him/her a message but ALSO try to reach the Keyholder from last year (if there was one). Be sure to introduce yourself as being from the IPEDS help desk and state that you are following up regarding registration for the IPEDS data collection. An example script is shown below.
In rare cases, the CEO may give you a reason why they do not think they need to register or participate in IPEDS. Keep good notes and document them in the Help Desk Application (HDA) thoroughly, then contact a project staff person.
You MAY also get some schools that submit combined data. As you know, these schools need to submit their own IC, and the completions surveys can be combined. If the school is part of a parent-child relationship, but does not appear that way in the system, get the details of the arrangement so that we can set them up properly in the system.

Example script for contacting CEOs:

Hello, my name is ________, calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Winter Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME)?

IF CEO IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE CEO CALL THE IPEDS HOTLINE (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF CEO IS AVAILABLE:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (CEO NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Fall Data Collection. In August and September, we sent letters to you requesting that you appoint a keyholder for the IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System). Your keyholder has not registered for the current data collection year, which opened in September. [IF there is an unregistered keyholder in the system, tell the CEO who that person is. If not, ask:] Have you appointed a keyholder?

IF YES:

We need for the keyholder to register and begin data collection immediately in order to meet the January 26 deadline for the Winter data collection. Would you be able to follow-up with the keyholder? Or if you prefer, you can give me that name and phone number of the keyholder and I will be happy to call them.

IF NO:

We need for you to appoint a keyholder immediately so they can register and begin data collection. The deadline for the collection is January 26. If you could give me the name and phone number of that person now, I will be happy to call them and provide them with the ID and password necessary for them to register and begin data collection.

OBTAIN KEYHOLDER NAME AND PHONE NUMBER IF POSSIBLE AND FOLLOWUP WITH THAT PERSON.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IF NECESSARY:

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Exhibit 26. Winter Keyholder/CEO Call Script for No Data Entered

“NO DATA” Script: Keyholder/CEO Calls to Registered

Title IV Institutions with no survey data entered

Winter 2010-11 Collection

Guidelines and Script

In an effort to get the remaining Title IV schools to enter their IPEDS data, beginning January 12, we will be making calls to those schools that have not entered any survey data for their required surveys. Outlined below are guidelines to follow when making these calls. Each of you will be getting a list of schools assigned to you in the Help Desk Application (HDA).

Goals of these calls:

Get the school to begin data entry as soon as possible and remind them of the deadline for Winter IPEDS submission of January 26; or
Get a good reason for why the school should not be included in IPEDS.

ALL calls must be thoroughly documented in the call log in the HDA.

Guidelines to follow for contacting keyholder and/or CEOs:

Institutions will be assigned in the HDA, thus any institution showing up in the call list currently has not begun entering data for their HR survey (i.e. status of “NO DATA” or “No-Data”). Schools will automatically be removed from the list once they have started entering HR data. These reminder calls apply ONLY to schools who have not started the Human Resources (HR) survey. For the purposes of these calls, we do NOT consider the status of any other surveys, thus you may be told that the institution HAS started, but in those cases they have likely started on the EF, F, SFA, GRS, and/or GR200 surveys, not the HR survey.

CHECK HDA COMMENTS THOROUGHLY to see if there is any reason for the school not making progress. If a valid reason is given, you do not need to call them (e.g. we are determining if they are still Title-IV eligible). However, enter a comment explaining that you reviewed the comments and explaining WHY you are not calling.

When you call the school, you will ask to speak FIRST with the keyholder (KH). If the keyholder is no longer employed there, or is unavailable, then you will ask to speak with the CEO.
The Keyholder name and phone number can be located in the HDA (contacts screen) or in the collection system (DCS) in the “user” screen,
The CEO name and phone number is located in the DCS in the “Institution Identification” screen.
Be sure to introduce yourself as being from the IPEDS helpdesk and state that you are following up regarding data entry for the IPEDS Winter data collection. An example script is shown below.

The keyholder or CEO may give you a reason why they do not think they need to participate in IPEDS. There should, however, be VERY few acceptable reasons. If they try to give you such a reason, please keep good notes and CONTACT Amy Lister (x23403) or Jamie Isaac (x26342).

If the KH or CEO says that the data are being combined with another school, or that the school has closed, seek help from a Team Leader or Project Staff to determine how to handle the specific situation.
Although you will only be calling schools with Keyholders, you should note that there are also users called “coordinators” and they have a later deadline of February 9. If someone tells you that their deadline is February 9, seek help from a colleague to make sure they understand if they are really a coordinator or not.
Keyholder UserIDs start with “P” or “88G.” Any other IDs (starting with a 2-digit number) are “coordinator” users.

Example script for contacting Keyholders and CEOs:

First, try to contact the Keyholder:

Hello, my name is ________, calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Winter Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (Keyholder NAME)?

IF keyholder IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back? Or is there someone else I can talk to about the IPEDS Winter data collection?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE Keyholder/CEO CALL THE IPEDS Help Desk (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF Keyholder is available:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (KH NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Winter Data Collection. As of today, we see that you have not yet begun entering data for the required HR survey. We wanted to make sure you were aware of the January 26 deadline. Is there anything I can help you with to assure that you are able to meet this deadline?

(If “NO”): Please remember that the deadline for the Human Resources survey is January 26 and that participation is mandatory for schools that participate in Title IV student financial aid programs. Thank you very much and have a nice day.

(If “YES”) Answer any questions they may have.

If keyholder is unavailable, try to contact the CEO.

Hello, my name is ________, calling for the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Winter Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME)?

IF CEO IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back? Or is there someone else I can talk to about the Winter data collection?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE CEO CALL THE IPEDS Help Desk (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF CEO IS AVAILABLE:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (CEO NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Winter Data Collection. As of today, your school has not yet begun entering data for the required HR survey. We wanted to make sure you are aware of the January 26 deadline. I tried contacting your keyholder, Dr/Mr/Ms (KH Name), but was unable to reach him/her.

We would very much appreciate your help because the Human Resources surveys must be completed by January 26 and is mandatory for schools that participate in Title IV student financial aid programs.

Is there anything I can help you with to assure that you are able to meet the January 26 deadline?

(If “NO”): Then thank you very much for reminding your keyholder, and have a nice day.

(If “YES”) Answer any questions they may have.

IF CEO THINKS SCHOOL IS OUT OF SCOPE FOR IPEDS, OBTAIN REASON AND RECORD DETAILS. Contact Amy Lister or Jamie Isaac with this information.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IF NECESSARY:

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Exhibit 27. Winter Close -2 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholder for “No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked”

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Winter Collection Closes in Two Weeks

January 12, 2011

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

The Winter 2010-11 IPEDS data collection is scheduled to close in just two weeks, on January 26. Currently, our records indicate that you have not yet locked the Human Resources (HR) survey that is required during this Winter collection.

All institutions are required to complete the HR component. Although the Finance (F), Fall Enrollment (EF), Student Financial Aid (SFA), Graduation Rates (GRS) and Graduation Rate 200% (GR200) components are currently available, they are not required to be locked until Spring.

Please remember that you must lock the HR survey for it to be considered a response.

At this time, the Help Desk is beginning to call the CEOs of Title IV institutions that have not yet begun entering any data for the HR survey component. In order to avoid receiving such a call, please begin entering your data as soon as possible. Following today's email reminder, we will send one additional email reminder, on January 19, to ensure your compliance with the collection deadline date of January 26.

The data collection website is located at http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds. If you have questions concerning accessing the system, or entering, editing, or locking your data, please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org. The help desk will operate extended hours starting January 17 and continuing through the end of the collection on January 26: Weekdays 8:30am to 8:00pm, Saturday (January 22) 10:00am to 6:00pm, and Sunday (January 23) 1:30pm to 6:00pm (all times are Eastern).

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Sincerely,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 28. Winter Close -1 Week Reminder Email to Keyholder for “No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked”

**Note: The CEO will be copied on this email IF the institution is on the “special call” list having missed a collection deadline during the prior 2 collection years.

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Winter Collection Closes in One Week

January 19, 2011

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

The Winter 2010-11 IPEDS data collection will close in one week, on January 26, 2011. As of today, your institution had not completed its required IPEDS Winter 2010-11 Human Resources (HR) survey component.

Please do NOT ignore this email but if you feel you have received it in error, call the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568.

Once the collection closes to keyholders on Wednesday, January 26, 2011, at midnight Pacific Time, you will not be able to submit, edit, or lock data and NO extensions can be granted. Please remember that the HR survey component must be locked to be considered a response.

If you have not locked the required IPEDS HR survey component by January 26, your institution will be referred to the office of Federal Student Aid for appropriate action.

The data collection website is located at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds. If you have questions concerning accessing the system, or entering, editing, or locking your data, please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org. The help desk will be operating extended hours through the end of the collection as follows: Weekdays 8:30am to 8:00pm, Saturday (January 22) 10:00am to 6:00pm and Sunday (January 23) 1:30pm to 5:00pm (all times are Eastern).

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Sincerely,

Tom Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 29. Spring Reminder/Close -6 Weeks and Close -8 Weeks

to be included in This Week in IPEDS

The web-based Spring 2011 IPEDS surveys will continue to be available until the Spring deadline of April 13, 2011. The five Spring survey components, if applicable to your institution, are required to be completed and locked prior to the end of the Spring collection.

You can access the collection site at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/IPEDS using your 2010-11 UserID and password (the same one you used for the Winter 2010-11 collection) to access the system.

For this collection:

- All institutions MUST complete the Finance (F) and Enrollment (EF), and most institutions must complete Student Financial Aid (SFA), Graduation Rates (GRS) and Graduation Rates 200% (GR200) surveys (if they were not completed during the Winter 2010-11 collection).

Note that the collection will close on April 13, 2011 and we are unable to accept late data submissions.

The following assistance is available to you as you prepare your institution’s data submissions:

- Copies of the survey forms, instructions, file upload specifications, and frequently asked questions (FAQs) are available in the collection system under the Help menu.

- The Association for Institution Research (AIR) has free IPEDS training Tutorials available at http://www.airweb.org, click on IPEDS.

In order to complete all requirements for data submission, keyholders must LOCK each survey.

- Under "Steps to Locking," be sure to run "Perform Edits" and resolve any errors.

- When activated (underlined), click "Lock" and follow the instructions.

- Please be sure to check your Survey status to make sure that it reads Locked or Complete after you have locked your data.

- Use the "Am I Done" feature to ensure that you have completed all required surveys.

Please be sure to provide a current email address for your institution’s Chief Executive (CEO) on your Institution Identification page, as it may be necessary to send IPEDS-related information to your CEO. Keyholders will always be copied on any such email correspondence. NCES will send an email acknowledgement to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of those institutions that lock all of their required survey components prior to the final three weeks of the collection. Although we realize that it is not always possible for the IPEDS data to be submitted this early, we do appreciate the efforts of those individuals who can, and do, complete their data entry early in the collection. As such, we want to recognize the efforts of those individuals. If your institution changes keyholders at any time during the year, be sure to change the contact information on the registration screen, which can be found under "Tools."

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 30. Spring Close -4 Weeks Registration Reminder Letter to CEOs

March 16, 2011

ceo_name

ceo_title

institution_name

addr1_txt

city_txt, state_cd zip_text

Dear Chief Executive Officer:

The data collection periods for the 2010-11 IPEDS collection year are scheduled as follows:

Fall 2010: September 8, 2010 – October 20, 2010

Winter 2010-11: December 8, 2010 – January 26, 2011

Spring 2011: December 8, 2010 – April 13, 2011

Sincerely,

Thomas Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

Attachments

unitid

Exhibit 31. Spring Close -4 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholders for “All Required Surveys Not Locked”

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Spring Collection Closes in Four Weeks

March 16, 2011

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

There are four weeks remaining in the Spring 2011 IPEDS data collection, and we are scheduled to close promptly on April 13, 2011.

Currently, our records indicate that you have not begun to enter information for the survey components which are required of your institution. All institutions are required to complete the Fall Enrollment (EF) and Finance (F) components, while most institutions are also required to complete the Graduation Rates (GRS), Student Financial Aid (SFA) and Graduation Rate 200% (GR 200) components.

We will be sending additional email reminders on March 30 and April 6. Also on March 30, we will begin calling the CEOs of institutions where keyholders have not begun entering data.

Please do not disregard this email! If you believe that you have received this message in error, please contact the Help Desk. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 32. Spring CEO Close -3 Weeks Early-Completer Thank-You Email

Subject: IPEDS Thanks You for Early Response - <UnitID>

March 23, 2011

Dear Chief Executive:

The National Center of Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Education, would like to extend its appreciation to your institution, and especially to your IPEDS Keyholder, <Keyholder>. As of today (three weeks prior to the close of the Spring data collection), the required survey components for your institution, <Institution Name>, have been entered, edited, and locked.

Again, please accept our thanks to you and your staff for your important contributions to the success of IPEDS.

Sincerely,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 33. Spring CEO Call Script for No Registered Keyholder

CEO Calls to Title IV Institutions - No Registered Keyholder

Guidelines and Script

Spring 2011

In an effort to get the remaining Title IV schools to register for IPEDS, beginning March 23, we will be making calls to those schools who have not registered. We have outlined some guidelines to follow when making these calls. Each of you will be getting a list of schools to work sorted by sector.

Goals of these calls:

Get the school to register for IPEDS as soon as possible and remind them of the deadline for IPEDS submission of April 13; or
Get a good reason for why the school should not be included in IPEDS

List of Sectors:

Central Office Administrative Unit
4-year public
4-year private, not-for-profit
4-year private, for-profit
2-year public
2-year private, not-for-profit
2-year private, for-profit
Less than 2-year public
Less than 2- year private, not-for-profit
Less than 2-year private, for-profit

(99) New Institution

Guidelines to follow for contacting CEOs:

Check Status of the school to see if it is still showing up as not registered. If they have registered since the list was generated, you do not need to call, but be sure to document why the call was NOT made.
CHECK COMMENTS THOROUGHLY to see if any reason for the school not being registered. If a reason is given, you may not need to call them. For example, if they called us and said that they are no longer Title-IV, and the incident is pending review by project staff, you do not need to make the call.
When you call the school, you will first ask to speak with the CEO (get his/her name from the Institution Identification page). If you cannot reach the CEO, please leave him/her a message but ALSO try to reach the Keyholder from last year (if there was one). Be sure to introduce yourself as being from the IPEDS help desk and state that you are following up regarding registration for the IPEDS data collection. An example script is shown below.
In rare cases, the CEO may give you a reason why they do not think they need to register or participate in IPEDS. Keep good notes and document them in the Help Desk Application (HDA) thoroughly, then contact a project staff person.
You MAY also get some schools that submit combined data. As you know, these schools need to submit their own IC, and the completions surveys can be combined. If the school is part of a parent-child relationship, but does not appear that way in the system, get the details of the arrangement so that we can set them up properly in the system.

Example script for contacting CEOs:

Hello, my name is ________, calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Spring Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME)?

IF CEO IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE CEO CALL THE IPEDS HOTLINE (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF CEO IS AVAILABLE:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (CEO NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Fall Data Collection. In August and September, we sent letters to you requesting that you appoint a keyholder for the IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System). Your keyholder has not registered for the current data collection year, which opened in September. [IF there is an unregistered keyholder in the system, tell the CEO who that person is. If not, ask:] Have you appointed a keyholder?

IF YES:

We need for the keyholder to register and begin data collection immediately in order to meet the April 13 deadline for the Spring data collection. Would you be able to follow-up with the keyholder? Or if you prefer, you can give me that name and phone number of the keyholder and I will be happy to call them.

IF NO:

We need for you to appoint a keyholder immediately so they can register and begin data collection. The deadline for the collection is April 13. If you could give me the name and phone number of that person now, I will be happy to call them and provide them with the ID and password necessary for them to register and begin data collection.

OBTAIN KEYHOLDER NAME AND PHONE NUMBER IF POSSIBLE AND FOLLOWUP WITH THAT PERSON.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IF NECESSARY:

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Exhibit 34. Spring Close -3 Weeks Reminder Email No Data Since Winter

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Spring Collection Closes in Three Weeks

March 23, 2011

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

Although there are three weeks remaining in the Spring 2011 IPEDS data collection, please be aware that we are scheduled to close promptly on April 13, 2011. We are aware that during the Winter collection period you began (or completed) Fall Enrollment (EF), Finance (F), Graduation Rates (GRS), Student Financial Aid (SFA), and/or Graduation Rate 200% (GR200) components. Currently, our records indicate that you have not yet begun to enter information during the Spring Collection. All five survey components, if applicable to your institution, are required to be completed and locked prior to the end of the Spring collection.

We will be sending additional email reminders on March 30 and April 6. Also on March 30, we will begin calling the CEOs of institutions where keyholders have not yet begun entering data.

Please do not disregard this email! If you believe that you have received this message in error, please contact the Help Desk. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Best regards,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 35. Spring Keyholder/CEO Call Script for

No Data Entered/No Data Entered Since Winter

“NO DATA” Script: Keyholder/CEO Calls to Registered

Title IV Institutions with no survey data entered

Spring 2011 Collection

Guidelines and Script

In an effort to get the remaining Title IV schools to enter their IPEDS data, beginning March 30, we will be making calls to those schools that have not entered any survey data for their required Spring surveys: Enrollment (EF), Finance (F), Graduation Rates (GRS), Student Financial Aid (SFA), and Graduation Rates 200% (GR200). Outlined below are guidelines to follow when making these calls. Each of you will be getting a list of schools assigned to you in the Help Desk Application (HDA).

Goals of these calls:

Get the school to begin data entry as soon as possible and remind them of the deadline for Spring IPEDS submission of April 13; or
Get a good reason for why the school should not be included in IPEDS.

ALL calls must be thoroughly documented in the call log in the HDA.

Guidelines to follow for contacting keyholder and/or CEOs:

Institutions will be assigned in the HDA, thus any institution showing up in the call list currently has not begun entering data for their surveys (i.e. status of “NO DATA” or “No-Data”). Schools will automatically be removed from the list once they have started entering data.

The first round of reminder calls apply ONLY to schools who have not started ANY of their Spring surveys. A second round of calls will be assigned later for institutions that may have started (or completed) EF, F, GRS, SFA, or GR200 during the Winter, but have not done any data entry during the Spring collection.

CHECK HDA COMMENTS THOROUGHLY to see if there is any reason for the school not making progress. If a valid reason is given, you do not need to call them (e.g. we are determining if they are still Title-IV eligible). However, enter a comment explaining that you reviewed the comments and explaining WHY you are not calling.

When you call the school, you will ask to speak FIRST with the keyholder (KH). If the keyholder is no longer employed there, or is unavailable, then you will ask to speak with the CEO.
The Keyholder name and phone number can be located in the HDA (contacts screen) or in the collection system (DCS) in the “user” screen,
The CEO name and phone number is located in the DCS in the “Institution Identification” screen.
Be sure to introduce yourself as being from the IPEDS helpdesk and state that you are following up regarding data entry for the IPEDS Spring data collection. An example script is included below.

The keyholder or CEO may give you a reason why they do not think they need to participate in IPEDS. There should, however, be VERY few acceptable reasons. If they try to give you such a reason, please keep good notes and CONTACT Amy Lister (x23403) or Jamie Isaac (x26342).

If the KH or CEO says that the data are being combined with another school, or that the school has closed, seek help from a Team Leader or Project Staff to determine how to handle the specific situation.

Although you will only be calling schools with Keyholders, you should note that there are also users called “coordinators” and they have a later deadline of April 27. If someone tells you that their deadline is April 27, seek help from a colleague to make sure they understand if they are really a coordinator or not.
Keyholder UserIDs start with “P” or “88G.” Any other IDs (starting with a 2-digit number) are “coordinator” users.

Example script for contacting Keyholders and CEOs:

First, try to contact the Keyholder:

Hello, my name is ________, calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Spring Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (Keyholder NAME)?

IF keyholder IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back? Or is there someone else I can talk to about the IPEDS Spring data collection?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE Keyholder/CEO CALL THE IPEDS Help Desk (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF Keyholder is available:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (KH NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Spring Data Collection. As of today, we see that you have not yet begun entering data for the required Spring surveys. We wanted to make sure you were aware of the April 13 deadline. Is there anything I can help you with to assure that you are able to meet this deadline?

(If “NO”): Please remember that the deadline for entering your data is April 13 and that participation is mandatory for schools that participate in Title IV student financial aid programs. Thank you very much and have a nice day.

(If “YES”) Answer any questions they may have.

If keyholder is unavailable, try to contact the CEO.

Hello, my name is ________, calling for the U.S. Department of Education concerning the IPEDS Spring Data Collection. May I speak with Dr./Mr./Ms (CEO NAME)?

IF CEO IS UNAVAILABLE:

May I leave a message for Dr./Mr./Ms (NAME), or can you suggest a time at which I should call back? Or is there someone else I can talk to about the Spring data collection?

LEAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU CALLED AND ASK THAT THE CEO CALL THE IPEDS Help Desk (877-225-2568) OR SET APPOINTMENT TO CALL BACK.

IF CEO IS AVAILABLE:

Hello Dr./Mr./Ms. (CEO NAME), I am calling concerning the IPEDS Spring Data Collection. As of today, your school has not yet begun entering data for the required surveys. We wanted to make sure you are aware of the April 13 deadline. I tried contacting your keyholder, Dr/Mr/Ms (KH Name), but was unable to reach him/her.

We would very much appreciate your help because the surveys must be completed by April 13 and are mandatory for schools that participate in Title IV student financial aid programs.

Is there anything I can help you with to assure that you are able to meet the April 13 deadline?

(If “NO”): Then thank you very much for reminding your keyholder, and have a nice day.

(If “YES”) Answer any questions they may have.

IF CEO THINKS SCHOOL IS OUT OF SCOPE FOR IPEDS, OBTAIN REASON AND RECORD DETAILS. Contact Amy Lister or Jamie Isaac with this information.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IF NECESSARY:

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Exhibit 36. Spring Close -2 Weeks Reminder Email to Keyholder for “No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked”

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Spring Collection Closes in Two Weeks

March 30, 2011

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

The Spring 2011 IPEDS data collection is scheduled to close in just two weeks, on April 13. Currently, our records indicate that you have not yet locked the required surveys that are being conducted this Spring.

All institutions are required to complete the Enrollment (EF) and Finance (F) components. Most institutions are also required to complete the Graduation Rates (GRS), Student Financial Aid (SFA), and Graduation Rates 200% (GR200) components.

Please remember that you must lock each survey component for it to be considered a response. Use the "Am I Done?" feature to confirm that your required surveys are locked.

The office of Federal Student Aid has provided the following warning to institutions that did not provide data during recent IPEDS collections: "We want to stress that compliance with these reporting requirements is an important obligation for all schools that participate in the federal student aid programs... An institution's failure to complete and submit these surveys is considered a serious violation of its obligations under the HEA and the regulations."

At this time, the Help Desk is beginning to call the CEOs of Title IV institutions that have not yet begun entering any data. In order to avoid receiving such a call, please begin entering your data as soon as possible. Following today's email reminder, we will send one additional email reminder, on April 6, to ensure your compliance with the collection deadline date of April 13, 2011.

The data collection website is located at http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds. If you have questions concerning accessing the system, or entering, editing, or locking your data, please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org. The help desk will operate extended hours starting April 4 and continuing through the end of the collection on April 13: Weekdays 8:30am to 8:00pm, and Saturday (April 9) 10:00am to 6:00pm and Sunday (April 10) 1:30pm to 5:00pm, all times are Eastern.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Sincerely,

Elise Miller

Program Director

Postsecondary Institutional Studies Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Exhibit 37. Spring Close -1 Week Reminder Email to Keyholder for “No Data Entered” or “All Required Surveys Not Locked”

**Note: The CEO will be copied on this email IF the institution is on the “special call” list having missed a collection deadline during the prior 2 collection years.

Subject: IPEDS Reminder – Spring Collection Closes in One Week

April 6, 2011

Dear IPEDS Keyholder:

The Spring 2011 IPEDS data collection will close in one week, on April 13, 2011. As of today, your institution had not completed all surveys that are required this Spring.

Please do NOT ignore this email but if you feel you have received it in error, call the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568.

Once the collection closes to keyholders on Wednesday, April 13, 2011, at midnight Pacific Time, you will not be able to submit, edit, or lock data and NO extensions can be granted. Please remember that each survey component must be locked to be considered a response.

If you have not locked the required IPEDS survey components by April 13, your institution will be referred to the office of Federal Student Aid for appropriate action. Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, requires that, as a condition of continued participation in the federal student aid programs, all institutions must complete the IPEDS surveys.

The data collection system is located at: http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds. If you have questions concerning accessing the system, or entering, editing, or locking your data, please contact the Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568, or ipedshelp@rti.org. The help desk will operate extended hours starting April 4 and continuing through the end of the collection on April 13: Weekdays 8:30am to 8:00pm, and Saturday (April 9) 10:00am to 6:00pm and Sunday (April 10) 1:30pm to 5:00pm, all times are Eastern.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important project.

Sincerely,

Tom Weko

Associate Commissioner

Postsecondary Surveys Division

National Center Education Statistics

Exhibit 38. Registration Confirmation Email

Subject: IPEDS Registration Confirmation - <UnitID>

User name: <UserName>

User ID: <UserID>

Institution name: <institution_name>

Thank you for completing the registration process for the IPEDS 2010-11 data collection.

The schedule for the 2010-11 data collection is as follows:

Fall collection September 8, 2010 - October 20, 2010

Winter collection December 8, 2010 - January 26, 2011

Spring collection December 8, 2010 - April 13, 2011

You can get more information about the data collection at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds, including survey forms, instructions, import specifications, and more. Please call the Help Desk if you have questions or problems.

IPEDS Help Desk

Toll Free 1-877-225-2568

ipedshelp@rti.org

Exhibit 39. Locking Confirmation Email to Keyholders

Subject: IPEDS Locking Confirmation for <survey name> – <UnitID>

The survey component data for <survey name> for INSTITUTION: <UnitID> - <institution name> was locked on <date>. The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics would like to thank you for your participation in the 2010-11 IPEDS data collection. Please be sure to lock all applicable surveys for this collection period.

If you have any questions about your institution’s reporting requirements, please contact the IPEDS Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568 or ipedshelp@rti.org.

IPEDS Help Desk

Toll Free 1-877-225-2568

ipedshelp@rti.org

Exhibit 40. Ready-to-Lock Email to Coordinators

Subject: IPEDS Survey Ready to be Locked: <Survey_Name> - <UnitID>

Dear IPEDS Coordinator: You now have lock access to <survey_name> for the institution: <Inst_name> (<UnitID>).

IPEDS Help Desk

Toll Free 1-877-225-2568

ipedshelp@rti.org

Exhibit 41. UserID and Password Confirmation Email

Subject: IPEDS UserID Reminder

Your User ID and Password for the IPEDS Data Collection System are listed below. Please keep them in a secure place.

User ID: <UserID>

Password: <Password>

The IPEDS data collection system is located at: https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/

IPEDS Help Desk

Toll Free 1-877-225-2568

ipedshelp@rti.org

IPEDS: 2009-2013 Page 3 of 11 2010-11 Collection Year

File Type	application/msword
File Title	IPEDS Data Collection
Author	isaac
Last Modified By	katrina.ingalls
File Modified	2011-04-13
File Created	2011-04-13