Memorandum United States Department of Education
Institute of Education Sciences
National Center for Education Statistics
DATE: April 14, 2020
TO: Robert Sivinski, OMB
THROUGH: Carrie Clarady, OMB Liaison, Avar Consulting in contract with NCES
FROM: Tara Lawley, Chief, Postsecondary Branch, Administrative Data Division, NCES
SUBJECT: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2019-20 through 2021-22 Spring 2020 Change Request (OMB# 1850-0582 v.26)
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is a web-based data collection system designed to collect basic data from all postsecondary institutions in the United States and the other jurisdictions. 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 collection was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB# 1850-0582 v.24) in August 2019 and had an update to the IPEDS Glossary based on a policy change from the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE; OMB# 1850-0582 v.25). This change is to provide communication to institutions about changes to the reporting allowances due to institutional hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The changes being communicated will allow institutions to report their Spring 2020 data using the Prior Year Revision (PYR) System for Spring 2020, which NCES will open in Fall 2020. While typically we would not open the PYR System for Spring 2020 until Spring 2021, we are changing this to allow institutions to maintain compliance with Federal Student Aid reporting requirements that they are unable to meet due to an inability to report because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The email that will be sent to institutions can be seen on the next page and on p. 84 of Appendix B.
Exhibit 55. Reporting Options for Spring 2020 survey components
Subject: Reporting Options for Spring 2020 survey components
April 2020
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are being felt throughout the higher education community, and NCES recognizes that the normal operations necessary for reporting congressionally-mandated Spring 2020 IPEDS data have been disrupted. While much is still uncertain about when institutions can re-gain access to their offices and/or their data, NCES is providing the following guidance related to the reporting of Spring 2020 IPEDS data:
1) The Spring 2020 data collection will close, as previously announced, on April 22, 2020 (for Keyholders) or May 6, 2020 (for Coordinators). Institutions are strongly urged to report as much data as possible under the circumstances, in situations where complete and accurate data are available and accessible without the need to violate any state-imposed stay-at-home requirements.
2) Institutions that can NOT provide the data by the time of the deadlines noted above, but anticipate that they CAN provide data within the next few weeks, should contact the IPEDS Help Desk to make provisions for submitting the data in the near term.
3) For institutions that are unable to provide complete and accurate Spring 2020 data in the near term, an additional reporting opportunity will be made available during the Fall of 2020. Using the Prior Year Revision System, institutions will be able to provide any missing Spring 2020 data beginning September 16, 2020 and continuing through a later date that will be determined as “normal” institutional operations are restored.
In situations where institutions provide complete and accurate Spring 2020 data under any of the 3 scenarios outlined above, they will remain in compliance with Federal Student Aid (FSA) reporting requirements.
As the situation evolves, additional information will be provided by NCES. Institutions should contact their coordinating agencies, accrediting agencies, and/or other oversight agencies in the event that there are questions about how those bodies may be adjusting their reporting deadlines.
Sincerely,
Tara B. Lawley
Branch Chief
Administrative Data Division
National Center for Education Statistics
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | Memorandum United States Department of Education |
| Author | audrey.pendleton |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-14 |