Summary of Changes
OMB No. 1850-0582 v. 33
Submitted by:
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Institute of Education Sciences
U.S. Department of Education
October 2025
Purpose of this Submission
The
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is seeking clearance
for the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data collections. Current
clearance covers the 2024-25 through 2026-27 collections and is due
to expire on August 31, 2027. The purpose of this submission is to
request clearance for a new survey component to be added to the
2025-26 IPEDS Winter data collection.
On August 7, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the Ensuring Transparency in Higher Education Admissions Executive Action. This memorandum requires “the Secretary of Education, in coordination with NCES” to “expand the scope of required reporting to provide adequate transparency into admissions.” In response to this Executive Action, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a directive to NCES directing it to initiate changes to IPEDS for the 2025-26 data collection. This directive outlined new data elements to be collected and the timeline for implementation – within the 120-day deadline specified in the Executive Action. After receipt of this directive, NCES developed data collection materials, instructions, definitions, and communication materials for a new IPEDS survey component – The Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) – to be added to the Winter data collection in the 2025-26 academic year. The materials necessary to obtain clearance to implement the new ACTS survey component are included in this package.
Summary of Changes in this Submission
Updates to Supporting Statement Part A include:
Updated background and summary of proposed changes to IPEDS
Updated data collection methodology describing the methods for collecting ACTS data (A.1.b)
Updated data content describing the data elements included in the ACTS (A.1.b)
Updated justification reflecting the executive memoranda requiring the ACTS data collection (A.1.e)
Updated information about the use of technology and other technological collection techniques (A.3)
Updated procedures for the assurance of confidentiality pertaining to the ACTS data collection (A.10)
Updated burden estimates (A.12)
Updates to Supporting Statement Part B include:
Information about the eligible institutions that will respond to the ACTS survey component (B.1)
Information about the tests of procedures and methods (B.4)
Updates to Appendix A: Detailed Proposed Changes include:
An introduction of the ACTS as a new survey component, not a change to any existing survey component.
Updates to Appendix B: Communications Package include:
Supplemental communication materials that will be distributed to the institutions that will be required to respond to the ACTS.
Updates to Appendix C: Keyholder Handbook include:
Updates to reference the new ACTS survey component, where applicable.
Updates to Appendix D: Directed Questions include:
New directed questions published with the August 15 Federal Register Notice.
Updates to Appendix E: Federal Register Notice 60 Day Comment Responses include:
A summary of the comments received during the 60 Day Public Comment period and NCES’s response to those comments.
Updates to the IPEDS glossary include:
New terms defined for the ACTS survey component
Revised definition of the SAT
Included with this submission is a new ACTS survey component package, which contains the instructions, data collection materials, and Frequently Asked Questions for the new ACTS survey component.
None of the existing IPEDS survey component packages have been revised for this submission.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Lilienthal, Kaitlin |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-11-14 |