Electronic AIR Volume 27, Number 2 (2/19/2007) E-AIR ALERT 35 - Comments Requested for Proposed IPEDS Changes http://www.airweb.org/page.asp?page=1157 _________________________________________________________________ TITLE: Comments Requested for Proposed IPEDS Changes PREPARED: February, 2007 Author: Carol Fuller _________________________________________________________________ SUMMARY In a January 24, 2007, Federal Register notice, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced it is seeking comments on a set of proposed changes to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) for 2007-08 through 2009-10. Comments regarding burden and/or the collection activity requirements should be electronically mailed to ICDocketMgr@ed.gov by March 26, 2007. The proposed changes include the previously announced new categories and definitions for reporting on first-professional enrollment and completions, and for race and ethnicity reporting for enrollment, completions, graduation rates, and human resources. Additional changes include new data requirements for enrollment, retention rates, and student financial aid, and, for degree-granting institutions (excluding graduate-only), undergraduate instructional expenses per undergraduate FTE. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is proposing to collect institutional URLs (if available) for online admission applications, transfer of credit policies, results of student learning assessments, Fact Books, and graduation rates for students receiving athletically-related aid (in lieu of providing the data to the NCES). Institutions that report transfer-out data would be asked to report how they verify those data. Other accountability measures used by an institution would be collected by name of measure, the institution's score on the measure, and the data year for the score. Timing ------ See the NCES notice at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/web2000/changes0708.asp for information about the changes that, if approved, will be mandatory in 2007-08, and those that will be optional in 2007-08 and required in 2008-09. Changes in first-professional enrollment reporting will be optional in 2008-09 and mandatory in 2009-10; changes in first-professional completions reporting will be optional in 2009-10 and mandatory in 2010-11. The current race/ethnic categories for students and employees will continue until the Education Department (ED) issues final guidance on proposed changes to collecting, maintaining, and reporting IPEDS data on race and ethnicity. CURRENT STATUS The materials submitted to the OMB indicate that the proposed changes are based on IPEDS Technical Review Panel (TRP) discussions, the report of the Spellings Commission ( http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports.html), and the legislation enacting the Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant program. Additional changes may be submitted based on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), the Spellings Commission report, and TRP discussions about bridging the gaps between the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Finance forms. The January 24, 2007, _Federal Register_ notice states that "The Department of Education is especially interested in public comment addressing the following issues:(1) Is this collection necessary to the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, including through the use of information technology." Address these issues by sending an e-mail to mailto:ICDocketMgr@ed.gov. IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTITUTIONS The proposed changes would affect every component of IPEDS reporting. Individuals in ALL the institutional offices responsible for current IPEDS reporting and any additional individuals who would be responsible for new information should be notified of the proposed changes. Institutions should consider coordinating any comments that might be submitted to the OMB. The estimated average total response burden for the 2006-07 IPEDS cycle is 51 hours. The NCES estimates that the average burden would be 56.4 hours in 2007-08, 50.3 hours in 2008-09, and 57.8 hours in 2009-10. For details by survey, see pages A 28-34 of http://edicsweb.ed.gov/edics_files_web/03269/Att_IPEDS%2007%2010%20sup p%20pkg%20section%20A.doc. TIMELINE *January 24, 2007* - Federal Register notice announcing request for comments. *March 26, 2007* - Deadline for comments The NCES notice at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/web2000/changes0708.asp provides information about the changes that, if approved, would be mandatory for the 2007-08 collection cycle, and those that would be optional in 2007-08 and required in 2008-09. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Complete information about IPEDS is available at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds The proposed changes for the 2007-08 IPEDS data collection are listed at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/web2000/changes0708.asp The Clearance Package submitted by the NCES to the OMB is available at http://edicsweb.ed.gov/browse/downldatt.cfm?pkg_serial_num=3269 The description of the proposed changes is contained in Section A on pages A-1 to A-8. ( http://edicsweb.ed.gov/edics_files_web/03269/Att_IPEDS%2007%2010%20sup p%20pkg%20section%20A.doc). Information about estimated response burden is on pages A-28 to A-34. To obtain a paper copy of the Clearance Package see the instructions included in the January 24, 2007 Federal Register notice available at ( http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.g po.gov/2007/pdf/E7-968.pdf ). _Summary of Responses to Proposed Inclusion of 'Instruction Expenses per FTE Student' on COOL_ (April, 2004) is available at: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/costperfte.asp A discussion of the differences between the GASB and FASB IPEDS Finance forms is available at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/web2000/gasbfasb.asp PREVIOUS RELATED AIR ALERTS --------------------------- AIR Alert 21 Update 5, NCES Announces Final Plan for New IPEDS Categories and Definitions for Classification of Masters, Doctor's and First-Professional Degree Programs for Reporting Enrollment and Completions, December 2006 (http://www.airweb.org/page.asp?page=1058) AIR Alert 14 Update 2, U.S. Department of Education Issues Proposed Guidance on Collecting, Maintaining, and Reporting Data on Race and Ethnicity, August 2006 (http://www.airweb.org/page.asp?page=956) ========================================================== Coordinated by the Higher Education Data Policy Committee. All opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Association for Institutional Research. ========================================================== ________________________________________________________________ Electronic AIR Volume 27, Number 2 (2/19/2007) Editor: Meihua Zhai, NASFAA (mailto:zhaim@nasfaa.org) Associate Editor: Marne Einarson, Cornell University (mailto:mke3@cornell.edu) Current Subscribers: 5776 Next Issue Copy Deadline: 2/23/2007 Next Issue Target Publication Date: 2/26/2007 Get Back Issues at: http://www.airweb.org/page.asp?page=173 Please send your news submission to Meihua Zhai ________________________________________________________________ Send a note to Gail Fishman gfishman@airweb2.org to subscribe or unsubscribe. ________________________________________________________________ Electronic AIR is the electronic newsletter of the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) serving Institutional Research professionals and those engaged in Management Research, Policy Analysis & Planning