#32

IPEDS Guidelines for Reporting Students Displaced due to Hurricane Katrina

Prepared: September 2005

Type: Informational

Summary

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has posted Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) reporting guidelines to assist institutions that have received or dispersed students who were displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina. (See notice at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/web2000/katrina.asp). The guidelines relate to the Institutional Characteristics, Enrollment, Student Financial Aid, and Graduation Rate surveys.

Current Status

Institutions Receiving Students Displaced by Hurricane Katrina

• Institutional Characteristics, Part C (Selection Process). Katrina students were not part of the selection process; they should not be included here as "enrolled" in your institution.



• Enrollment. You have two options for reporting Katrina students: (1) as other degree-seeking, OR (2) as non-degree-seeking. Do not count these students as first-time at your institution. If the receiving institution considers the student as a "transfer in" (coming from another institution), the student may be reported as other degree-seeking. Following earlier guidance from the Office of Postsecondary Education (http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/PostsecondarySchools.html), institutions may consider these students as non-degree seeking (yet receiving financial aid) for the fall term (that is, the period prior to January 2006). In either case, these students will not "inflate" your cohort for graduation rates or impact the reporting of student financial aid data next year.



• More on Enrollment. It is important to note that Katrina students are to be counted in the summary and age data. Note that reporting for graduate and professional students on the Fall Enrollments Survey is not impacted in the same way as undergraduates as there is no breakdown by first-time (full-time/part-time and by gender and race/ethnicity are reported).



• Student Financial Aid (SFA). There is no impact on the data provided in 2005-06 (data are for prior year). Next year, the Katrina students (because they were not first-time full-time at your institution) will not be in the cohort reported in 2006-07 (full-time, first-time, degree/certificate seeking undergraduates enrolled in Fall 2005).



• Graduation Rates Survey (GRS). Katrina students should not be included in the Fall 2005 cohort. There is no impact on GRS reporting for the 2005-06 year nor in the future. Katrina students (because they were not considered first-time at your institution) will not be part of your institution's GRS reporting.

Institutions Dispersing Students Displaced by Hurricane Katrina (those institutions temporarily closed or not fully functioning)

• Institutional Characteristics, Part C (Selection Process). If the data are available, report all students submitting applications, those who were admitted, and those who enrolled, even if they have been dispersed to other institutions. If these data are not available, please attempt to provide the pricing data in Part D.



• Enrollment. Do not report students who have been dispersed to other institutions. If your institution remains closed for the entire fall term, you may report "0" (zero) enrollment in Part A. For more guidance, contact NCES.



• Student Financial Aid (SFA). There should be no impact on this component for the 2005-06 survey year; data provided are for the prior academic year. For next year's reporting, institutions should NOT plan to report financial assistance received and processed by other institutions on behalf of your dispersed students. For next year's reporting, institutions that remain closed for the entire Fall 2005 term may not have a Fall 2005 SFA reporting cohort. More clarification for next year's reporting will be provided at a later date.



• Graduation Rates Survey (GRS). There should be no impact on the current GRS collection; data are collected for previous cohorts. Institutions that remain closed for the entire Fall 2005 term will not have a 2005 cohort to track for reporting graduation rates. Students in other cohorts should remain in their appropriate GRS cohort (under the assumptions that they will return to complete their degree/award); if these students do not return to the institution, they should be treated as transfers-out. More clarification for next year's GRS reporting will be provided at a later date.

Implications for Institutions

Institutions that have received students displaced because of Hurricane Katrina and institutions that have dispersed students will want to review the guidelines and determine which are applicable for their reporting and recordkeeping practices.

Having the appropriate data, even if it is a special data collection, will be important to document the extraordinary response of the higher education community to college students and families that lived in the Gulf Region.

Timeline

September 19, 2005 - The NCES revised notice posted

Additional Information

Complete information about IPEDS is available at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds.

The Office of Postsecondary Education has provided guidance for providing students dispersed by Hurricane Katrina with Title IV federal student aid at: http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/PostsecondarySchools.html.

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.