About IPEDS

IPEDS collects data on postsecondary education in the United States in eight areas: institutional characteristics; institutional prices; admissions; enrollment; student financial aid; degrees and certificates conferred; student persistence and success; and academic libraries, institutional, and human fiscal resources.

• Institutional Characteristics

  Institutional characteristics data are the foundation of the entire IPEDS system. These include basic institutional contact information, tuition and fees, room and board charges, control or affiliation, type of calendar system, levels of awards offered, and types of programs.

• Institutional Prices

  IPEDS collects institutional pricing data from institutions for degree and certificate seeking undergraduate and graduate students, including full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students and students enrolled in doctor’s professional practice programs. This includes tuition and fee data as well as information on the estimated student budgets for students based on living situations (on-campus or off-campus).

• Admissions

  Basic information is collected from institutions that do not have an open-admissions policy on the undergraduate selection process for first-time, degree/certificate-seeking students. This includes information about admissions considerations, admissions yields, and SAT and ACT test scores.

• Enrollment

  Because enrollment patterns differ greatly among the various types of postsecondary institutions, there is a need for both different measures of enrollment and several indicators of access. In IPEDS, the following enrollment-related data are collected:

  • Fall Enrollment
    Fall enrollment is the traditional measure of student access to higher education. Fall enrollment data can be looked at by race/ethnicity; gender; enrollment status (part-time or full-time); and or level of study (undergraduate or graduate).
  • Residence of First-Time Students
    Data on the number of first-time freshmen by state of residence, along with data on the number who graduated from high school the previous year, serve to monitor the flow of students across state lines and calculate college-going rates by state. These data are collected in even-numbered years.
  • Age Data
    The age distribution of enrolled students offers insight into the relationship between the changing demographics of college-going cohorts and enrollment in different types of postsecondary institutions. They also permit detailed projections of enrollment by institutional type and by age. Because a student’s dependency status is strongly related to age, the data can be used to provide estimates of the number of independent and dependent students attending postsecondary institutions. These data are collected in odd-numbered years.
  • Unduplicated 12-Month Head Count
    Enrollment figures based on the unduplicated head count of students enrolled over a 12-month period is particularly valuable for institutions that use non-traditional calendar systems and offer short-term programs. Because this enrollment measure encompasses an entire year, it provides a more complete picture of the number of students these schools serve.
  • Instructional Activity
    Data on instructional activity is measured in total credit and/or contact hours delivered by institutions during a 12-month period.
  • Total Entering Class
    Data on the number of incoming students (students enrolling for the first time in a postsecondary institution versus students transferring in from another postsecondary institution) at an institution. This measure permits the calculation of the graduation rate cohort as a proportion of the total entering student body.

• Student Financial Aid

  IPEDS collects data on the number of undergraduate students awarded student financial aid and the total amount awarded, which includes full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students awarded aid disaggregated by different types of student financial aid, including grants and loans, from different sources at each institution. These data are used to calculate the average dollar amount of aid awarded to these students. Similar data are collected for select Veteran’s Education benefits and Military assistance programs to calculate average disbursed amounts for undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, as a result of the Higher Education Act (1965), as amended, IPEDS collects data to calculate the average net price at each institution for the following two groups: (1) full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who receive grant and scholarship aid; and (2) full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who receive Title IV federal student aid.

• Degrees and Certificates Conferred (Completions)

  IPEDS collects data on the number of students who complete a postsecondary education program by type of program and level of award (certificate or degree). Type of program is categorized according to the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) , a detailed coding system for postsecondary instructional programs. These data provide information on the number and location of completers by field. Business and industry, the military, and other groups that need to recruit individuals with particular skills use these data extensively. The data also help satisfy the mandate in the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act for information on completions in postsecondary career and technical education programs.

• Student Persistence and Success

  IPEDS collects three types of data to help track postsecondary student progress and success.

  • First–Year Retention Rates
    The first-year retention rate measures the percentage of first-year students who had persisted in or completed their educational program a year later. These data have been collected since 2003.
  • Graduation Rates
    Graduation rate data provide information on institutional productivity and help institutions comply with reporting requirements of the Student Right-to-Know Act.
  • Outcome Measures
    Starting with the 2015-16 collection, IPEDS collects information on the number of awards conferred and the enrollment status of four degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate student cohorts: 1) Full-time, first-time, 2) Part-time, first-time, 3) Full-time, non-first-time, and 4) Part-time, non-first-time. The reported data are for two points in time: 6-years and 8-years after a cohort enters an institution.

• Institutional Resources

  IPEDS collects institutional data on human resources and finances.

  • Human Resources
    Human resources data measure the number and type of staff supporting postsecondary education. Because staffing patterns vary greatly across postsecondary institutions, IPEDS measures human resources in three ways:
    1. Employees by assigned position - These data classify all employees by full- or part-time status, faculty status, and occupational activity.
    2. Salaries - These data include the number of full-time instructional faculty by rank, gender, and length of contract/teaching period; and salary outlays for full-time staff.
    3. Staff - These data include demographic and occupational characteristics for staff at institutions.
  • Finances
    Finance data includes institutional revenues by source, expenditures by category, and assets and liabilities. This information provides context for understanding the cost of providing postsecondary education. It is used to calculate the contribution of postsecondary education to the gross national product. IPEDS collects finance data conforming to the accounting standards that govern public and private institutions. Generally, private institutions use standards established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and public institutions use standards established by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).
  • Academic Libraries
    Information on collections, expenditures, and services for libraries at degree-granting institutions. Data collected through the IPEDS system replaces the previous U.S. Census and NCES Academic Libraries Survey, which collected data from institutions every other even-number year and was not a mandatory collection.