Appendix D - IPEDS 2024-25 through 2026-27 Directed Questions

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

Appendix D: Directed Questions

OMB No. 1850-0582 v. 33

Submitted by:

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

March 2024

Introduction

This document presents specific topics for which NCES would like to obtain input from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data submitters and other interested parties. Please note that in addition to these specific questions, public comments are encouraged on all proposed changes.

Student Financial Aid (SFA) survey component planning

In the current IPEDS 2024-25 through 2026-27 package, NCES is proposing multiple changes for SFA survey component to start streamlining the collection of student financial aid data. NCES has proposed to remove the cost elements into a separate component for 2024-25, and to collect consistent data on aid types from all existing student categories starting in 2025-26. As NCES continues to improve this survey component, NCES would like feedback from institutions on some potential future changes. Please respond to the questions in both A and B as appropriate.

1. NCES is considering collecting aid data on additional student categories to better understand how different student categories are being awarded aid. The additional student categories would include all students (graduate and undergraduate) and all full-time degree/certificate-seeking students, allowing the opportunity to derive values for other categories including graduate students, non-first-time students, and less-than-full-time students. Before these changes are made, NCES would like to ask institutions some questions.

• Please list the benefits of adding these additional student categories.

• Please list any concerns you have about adding these additional student categories.

• If you are an institutional reporter, would your institution be able to report these additional student categories if they were added?

• If you are an institutional reporter, how much additional time would it take you to report these data to IPEDS?

• Are there other data collections where these data are already collected?

Survey Part	Current Student Categories	Proposed Student Categories
Section 1, Part A – Establish Your Student Counts	All undergraduate students Degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates Full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates Non-degree/non-certificate-seeking undergraduates	All graduate and undergraduate students All undergraduate students Degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates Full-time Full-time, first-time Less than full-time Non-degree/non-certificate-seeking undergraduates All graduate students

2. NCES is also considering change the way student counts are reported in SFA survey component. Currently, academic year reporting institutions report data based on a fall census date, and program reporters report data for the period of July 1 – June 30. Although NCES preloads data from the Fall Enrollment (EF) survey component for academic year reporters and from the 12-month Enrollment (E12) survey component for program reporters, institutions may edit the preloaded counts if these do not accurately reflect the student counts for SFA. Some institutions have challenges understanding reporting based on the preloaded data.

• Should NCES continue preloading data and allowing institutions to edit these data? If so, should the same student counts be used for both reporter types? If the same cohort is used, should it be EF or E12?

• Should NCES stop preloading data and ask institutions to report the number of students awarded each type of aid for their academic year, as they define the academic year for financial aid purposes? This would allow institutions to better align the student counts with the aid awarded (which is for an academic year as defined by the institution) and provide better average aid numbers? However, please note that it would make it challenging to create percentages of students awarded aid (e.g., the number of all undergraduate students receiving Pell Grants) since institutions do not currently report the number of students at the institution during an academic year (only fall census in EF and 12-month period of July 1 – June 30 in E12). If this change were made, NCES could:

  • Allow institutions to report the ratios of students receiving different aid types (as opposed to calculating the percentages), or

  • Ask institutions to report the totals of each student types for the academic year.

	Academic Reporters	Program Reporters
Definition	Institutions are academic reporters if they operate on an academic calendar (e.g., semester, trimester, quarter, or 4-1-4).	Institutions are program reporters if they operate on a calendar system that differs by program or offers programs on a continuous basis (e.g., every 2 weeks, monthly, or other period).
Current Reporting Period	Students enrolled in Fall (census date) for the academic year as defined by the institution. For example, for the 2023-24 IPEDS data collection, institutions report students enrolled in Fall 2022 for the 2022-23 academic year as defined by the institution.	Students enrolled anytime during the academic year as defined by the institution, which is typically for the period of July 1 – June 30. For example, for the 2023-24 data collection, institutions report students enrolled anytime during the academic year as defined by the institution, which is typically from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
Current Editable Preloads	Student counts reported in Fall Enrollment (EF) survey component (i.e., 2022 EF counts reported during the 2022-23 IPEDS data collection [Spring collection cycle]).	Student counts reported in 12-month Enrollment (E12) survey component (i.e., E12 counts reported during the 2023-24 IPEDS data collection [Fall collection cycle]).