IPEDS ACTS Survey: Background

Background

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) received Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval to conduct the newly added Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) survey component. The ACTS component stems from a directive by the Secretary of Education following a Presidential memorandum (August 7, 2025) to increase transparency around higher-education admissions, including civil-rights compliance under federal law.

The Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) collection opened on December 18, 2025, and will close to keyholders on March 18, 2026.

The supplement requires four-year institutions with selective admissions to submit detailed, disaggregated data on applications, admissions, enrollment, and aid — by race-sex pairings; and further broken out by GPA quintiles, test-score quintiles, family income ranges, Pell-grant eligibility, parental education (first-generation status), application round (e.g. early action/decision vs. regular), and more. For graduate/professional programs, data would be reported by field of study (CIP code).

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) — the federal data-collection system used by colleges and universities to report institutional characteristics, admissions, enrollment, financial aid, completion, and more — currently does not collect admissions and financial-aid information at the level of detail proposed under ACTS.

Resource Center: Proposed IPEDS ACTS Survey

Timeline of ACTS Developments

December 18, 2025: Reporting collection period opened
Having received approval by the OMB to conduct the ACTS survey component, the collection officially opened December 18, 2025, and will close to keyholders on March 18, 2026.
November 14, 2025: Additional materials (codebook, file specs, draft communications) posted on Regulations.gov for ACTS
- As part of the docket (ED-2025-SCC-0382), ED published detailed supporting materials — including the full “ACTS package” (instructions, file specifications, codebook), draft communications to institutions, and other relevant attachments.
- These documents define the data elements proposed: breakdowns by race-sex pair, test-score/GPA quintiles, income ranges, Pell eligibility, parental education, application round, financial aid, enrollment, and outcomes (e.g. graduation).
- The notice indicated that public comments would be accepted through December 15, 2025.
November 13, 2025: Federal Register notice publishes a revised information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) including ACTS (Docket ED-2025-SCC-0382)
- On November 13, 2025, ED submitted a formal revision of the IPEDS information collection request that adds the ACTS survey component. That submission appears under the docket number ED-2025-SCC-0382.
- The Federal Register document (associated with Docket ID ED-2025-SCC-0382) includes the proposed collections, data elements, burden estimates, and invites public comment.
- According to that notice, 4-year institutions with selective admissions will be required to report data from the 2025-26 admissions cycle as well as historical data from previous years.
October 14, 2025: Public comment period for the initial proposal closed
- Over 3,400 submissions were submitted.
August 15, 2025 (Federal Register notice & first public details of ACTS)
- ED published a notice in the Federal Register formally announcing the proposed changes to IPEDS and requesting comment from stakeholders.
- The notice specified that the ACTS supplemental data collection would cover undergraduate admissions broadly and “specific” graduate and professional programs.
- According to reporting, the plan would require institutions to provide data not only for new admissions cycles but also to retroactively submit data for previous years to establish a baseline.
August 7, 2025: Presidential memorandum and ED Secretary directive launching ACTS
- On August 7, 2025, Donald J. Trump signed a presidential memorandum titled Ensuring Transparency in Higher Education Admissions directing the Secretary of Education to expand reporting requirements within IPEDS.
- On the same day, ED Secretary Linda McMahon issued a directive instructing the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to implement the expanded data collection.
- The directive instructed NCES to collect detailed admissions data disaggregated by race and sex — including academic metrics, financial aid, and other applicant characteristics.
- The directive also mandated an audit / accuracy-check process within IPEDS to ensure consistent and valid reporting across institutions.

Summary of ACTS Requirements (Per NCES documentation dated 11/14/2025)

Purpose

The primary purpose of ACTS survey component is to expand the scope of information collected about the undergraduate and graduate admissions process, financial aid awarding process, enrollment in courses and programs, and outcomes and completions in order to comply with the Secretary of Education’s directive that followed the Presidential memo.

Institutions Eligible to Report

Four-year public, private for-profit, and private not-for-profit institutions are potentially eligible to complete the ACTS component. Eligible institutions may be exempted from completing ACTS in a survey year if they (1) do not award non-need-based aid and (2) admitted 100 percent of applicants in that year.

Data Collected

ACTS will collect disaggregated data on applications, admissions, enrollment, and aid — by race-sex pairings; and further broken out by GPA quintiles, test-score quintiles, family income ranges, Pell-grant eligibility, parental education (first-generation status), and application round (e.g. early action/decision vs. regular).

For enrolled students, graduation rates, final GPA, financial aid awarded/offered (institutional, merit-based, need-based, federal/state/local) would be required. For graduate programs, data would be reported by field of study (CIP code).

Reporting Years

The 2025-26 collection would require data covering multiple years. Data from the 2025-26 admission cycle plus historical data going back to 2020-21or 2019-20 depending on the specific data element.

Error Reports

NCES will be implementing various accuracy checks and auditing mechanisms to ensure uniform reporting across institutions, consistency with other IPEDS data reporting, and compliance with data integrity standards.