NAICU - GAO Report on IPEDS Reporting Burden Leads to Department of Ed Proposal for Comment

Even though the 2012 NAICU Annual Meeting is history, you can continue to benefit and learn from the many presentations and speeches that were offered, and are now available on line.

New College Affordability Measures

Initiatives being launched in 2012-13 to help keep students' and families' out-of-pocket costs as low as possible. Tuition cuts and freezes, three-year degree programs, and more. Complete list.

NAICU Statement on President Obama's Higher Ed Proposals

NAICU President David Warren commends the president's commitment to student assistance, and calls for avoiding unintended consequences for students. More

Net Tuition Price Falls 4.1% at Private Colleges

Inflation-adjusted net tuition and fees at private colleges actually dropped 4.1 percent in the last five years, according to a recent College Board report. More

News Search of the Week

Here's what the media are saying about:

Higher Education Reform/Innovation

. . . or visit our full search-by-topic list to browse news and commentary on any of 80+ higher ed topics.

Banner images provided by Bucknell University.

Home

News Room

GAO Report on IPEDS Reporting Burden Leads to Department of Ed Proposal for Comment

NAICU Washington Update

September 2, 2010

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has shown that the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS) collection burden for institutions is much higher than Department of Education estimates. Of the 22 schools reviewed by the GAO, 18 reported spending more time than the 15 to 41 hours estimated by the Department to collect the required data. Collection times varied widely among the institutions, from a low of 12 to a high of 590 hours.

The GAO noted that, given the small sample size, the findings can't be generalized across all 6,800 postsecondary institutions completing IPEDS. However, the office did recommend that the Department of Education: (1) reevaluate its official IPEDS burden estimates and adjust them as necessary; (2) improve communication about IPEDS training opportunities, particularly to small career and technical institutions; and (3) improve coordination with higher education software providers.

In responding to the study, the Department of Education has proposed a revised burden estimate for the completion of IPEDS. The proposal increases the estimated time for a four-year institution to complete the report to a range of 137 to 206 hours, depending on the keyholder's level of experience. The Department is now soliciting comments from institutions on the new estimates by October 1. NAICU encourages all member institutions to respond to this request. To submit comments, send an email with the subject line "IPEDS BURDEN" to Elise.Miller@ed.gov by October 1, 2010. Please include your type of institution and years of experience as a keyholder in your comments.

The GAO study, which was required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act, also examined the feasibility of collecting additional graduation rate data. The GAO concluded that additional information could be of some use, but that reporting additional information -- particularly graduation rates by income -- would be burdensome to institutions. Given this concern, the office didn't recommend any modification of current reporting requirements in this area.

Contact

Susan Hattan
susan@naicu.edu