The Institutional Prices and Student Financial Aid Survey (IPSFA) was a Web-based survey administered by NCES in the 1999–2000 data collection cycle to collect institutional information on price of attendance, student financial aid, and other characteristics. The original IPSFA survey was planned as a pilot study to test institutions’ ability both to provide data on these issues and to submit data via the Web. In 2000–2001, various components of IPSFA were incorporated into the redesigned IPEDS surveys, which are now administered through a Web-based data collection process.

The IPSFA universe of institutions was based on the IPEDS universe. Data were collected from more than 6,000 institutions, including public, private not-for-profit, and private for-profit institutions at the 4-year, 2-year, and less-than-2-year levels.

Data in IPSFA were organized into several subcomponents, including the following:

• Institutional Characteristics
  Including institutional names, addresses; telephone numbers; web addresses; and control or affiliation.
  
  
• Student Count
  Including information about the number and percentage of first-time, full-time, degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates.
  
  
• Academic Tuition
  Including the in-state and out-of-state tuition levels charged to first-time, full-time degree/ certificate-seeking undergraduates for three years (1997–98 to 1999–2000), as well as charges for books and supplies, room and board, and other expenses.
  
  
• Financial Aid
  Including information on the percentage of first-time, full-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates receiving federal grants, state grants, institutional grants, and loan aid for either 1997–98 or 1998–99, as well as the average amounts of aid received.

At the time this report was written, the IPSFA data for 1999–2000 had been edited but did not include imputations.