Change Sheet Memo

Memorandum United States Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

National Center for Education Statistics

DATE: November 27, 2019

TO: Robert Sivinski, OMB

THROUGH: Kashka Kubzdela, OMB Liaison, NCES

FROM: Tara Lawley, Chief, Postsecondary Branch, Administrative Data Division, NCES

SUBJECT: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2019-20 through 2021-22 Glossary Change Request (OMB# 1850-0582 v.25)

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is a web-based data collection system designed to collect basic data from all postsecondary institutions in the United States and the other jurisdictions. IPEDS enables NCES to report on key dimensions of postsecondary education such as enrollments, degrees and other awards earned, tuition and fees, average net price, student financial aid, graduation rates, student outcomes, revenues and expenditures, faculty salaries, staff employed, and information on academic libraries. The IPEDS web-based data collection system was implemented in 2000-01. In 2017-18, IPEDS collected data from 6,642 postsecondary institutions in the United States and the other jurisdictions that are eligible to participate in Title IV Federal financial aid programs. All Title IV institutions are required to respond to IPEDS (Section 490 of the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 [P.L. 102-325]). IPEDS allows other (non-title IV) institutions to participate on a voluntary basis; approximately 200 non-title IV institutions elect to respond each year. IPEDS data are available to the public through the College Navigator and IPEDS Data Center websites. IPEDS 2019-22 annual data collections were approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB# 1850-0582 v.24) in August 2019. This change request is to update the IPEDS Glossary based on a policy change from the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), specifically to the following terms: Quarter (calendar system), Semester (calendar system), and Trimester (calendar system).

The OPE recently published a change to standard term lengths (https://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/110519RevisionGuidelinesApplicableStandardTerms.html). While this change will not impact the calendar system by which institutions report to IPEDS, given that institutions define their calendar terms based on OPE standard terms lengths, it is important for NCES to change the glossary terms associated with this change so as not to confuse institutions submitting data to IPEDS. In order to avoid this issue in the future, NCES no longer will list the ranges in the glossary terms, and will instead link to the appropriate website.

The glossary, including the changes, is attached. This request does not introduce any changes to respondent burden or the cost to the federal government. Revisions made to the document, “IPEDS 2019-20 through 2021-22 Glossary & General FAQ.pdf” are shown below (red font reflects text deletions and additions):

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Quarter (calendar system)

A calendar system in which the academic year consists of 3 sessions called quarters of about 12 weeks each. The range may be from 10 to 15 weeks as defined by the institution. There may be an additional quarter in the summer. Note: the standard term length range is defined by the Office of Postsecondary Education. More information can be found at: https://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/110519RevisionGuidelinesApplicableStandardTerms.html.

p.32

Semester (calendar system)

A calendar system that consists of two sessions called semesters during the academic year with about 15 weeks for each semester of instruction. There may be an additional summer session. Note: the standard term length range is defined by the Office of Postsecondary Education. More information can be found at: https://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/110519RevisionGuidelinesApplicableStandardTerms.html.

p. 36

Trimester (calendar system)

An academic year consisting of 3 terms of about 15 weeks each. Note: the standard term length range is defined by the Office of Postsecondary Education. More information can be found at: https://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/110519RevisionGuidelinesApplicableStandardTerms.html.