IPEDS Data Release Memorandum (Memo)

Memorandum for the NCES Review Tracking System (RTS) IPEDS Data Collection Cycle

2025–26 IPEDS Data Collection: Fall Provisional Data Release

The provisional data release of the components collected during the fall collection period of the 2025–26 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) contains substantive changes in file structure or file documentation for multiple components of IPEDS compared to the previous year. Within the Institutional Characteristics (IC) component, the Admissions screening question regarding open admissions has been moved to the Admissions component to better align the timing and reporting of this question. In addition, the Academic Libraries (AL) expenses screening question has been removed from IC with the retirement of the AL component from IPEDS. In the Completions and 12-Month Enrollment components, the term “gender” has been replaced with “sex”, “men” has been replaced with “male”, and “women” has been replaced with “female”, in accordance with the Presidential Executive Order issued¹ on January 20, 2025. Details regarding these changes can be found under “Updates to the Data Collection” on the IPEDS Report Your Data website (https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/report-your-data#updates-to-the-data-collection), as pictured below.

The data are released to the public through the “Use the Data” portal (https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data) on the IPEDS website. The IPEDS Survey Methodology is located at https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/survey-components/ipeds-survey-methodology as a resource for data users.

IPEDS is an annual, large-scale, web-based survey that collects institution-level data from postsecondary institutions in the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia) and other U.S. jurisdictions.² For more information about the IPEDS Survey, its 12 components, and data release procedures, visit https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data/survey-components. This memorandum documents the IPEDS universe of reporting institutions and response to the fall collection period of the 2025–26 IPEDS, which was open from September 3, 2025 to October 15, 2025.

2025–26 IPEDS Universe of Institutions

The IPEDS universe is established during the fall collection period. During the 2025–26 collection year, there were 5,779 Title IV institutions, administrative offices,³ and U.S. service academies⁴ in the United States and other jurisdictions of the United States, such as Puerto Rico. For 2025–26, a total of 498 postsecondary institutions were reported exclusively by a parent institution and are not included in the universe counts. The four U.S. service academies that are not Title IV eligible are included in the IPEDS universe because they are federally funded and open to the public.

NCES statistical standards require that the potential for nonresponse bias for all institutions be analyzed for sectors for which the response rate is less than 85 percent. Because response rates were nearly 100 percent for each survey component, no such analysis was necessary.

Table 1 provides an overview of the number of institutions responding to the components that comprise the fall collection period. This table is updated after each collection period’s data release. Appendix A provides a summary of responses for the previous collection year for comparison purposes. Appendix B shows a table of institutions with a Title IV status change.⁵ Of the 126 institutions that were Title IV in 2024–25 but were no longer Title IV in 2025–26, some 93 were private for-profit institutions.

Table 1. Summary of response by IPEDS survey component, 2025–26 data collection

IPEDS survey component	Number of institutions
IPEDS survey component	Not required to report¹	Expected to respond	Did not respond²	Provided data
Fall collection period: September 3, 2025 to October 15, 2025
Institutional Characteristics	0	5,779	2	5,777
Completions³	1	5,710	9	5,701
12-Month Enrollment³	10	5,701	9	5,692
Winter collection period: December 3, 2025 to February 4, 2026
Admissions³	—	—	—	—
Graduation Rates³	—	—	—	—
Cost³	—	—	—	—
200 Percent Graduation Rates³	—	—	—	—
Outcome Measures³	—	—	—	—
Student Financial Aid³	—	—	—	—
Spring collection period: December 3, 2025 to April 1, 2026
Fall Enrollment³	—	—	—	—
Finance	—	—	—	—
Human Resources	—	—	—	—
ACTS⁴	—	—	—	—

— Data currently not available.

¹ Not required to respond to the survey component because the institutions were new, were closed, did not enroll students, or did not meet the criteria for the component (e.g., some components only apply to degree-granting institutions).

² Due to unit nonresponse, all data were imputed for nonresponding institutions.

³ Does not include the 68 administrative offices. An administrative office is a system or central office in a multi-campus environment.

⁴ Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement.

NOTE: Title IV institutions are those with a written agreement with the U.S. Department of Education that allows the institution to participate in any of the Title IV federal student financial assistance programs. The U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy are not Title IV eligible but are included in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) universe because they are federally funded and open to the public; they are included in this table. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is Title IV eligible and is also included in this table. Definitions for terms used in this table may be found in the IPEDS online glossary located at https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/public/glossary. The glossary is primarily focused on terms used in the current IPEDS collection and may not reflect the definitions in effect when the data in this table were collected.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS 2025–26 collection (provisional data).

For any questions related to this data product release, please contact Brian Fu (Brian.Fu@ed.gov).

¹ “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government”, retrieved April 13, 2026 from https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/.

² The other U.S. jurisdictions surveyed in IPEDS are American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

³ Title IV institutions and administrative offices include 5,711 institutions and 68 administrative (central or system) offices. The central and system offices are required to complete the Institutional Characteristics component in the fall, the Human Resources component in the spring, and the Finance component in the spring (if they have their own separate budget).

⁴ The four U.S. service academies that are not Title IV eligible are the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is Title IV eligible. Data for all five institutions are included in the tables and counts of institutions unless otherwise indicated.

⁵ An institution may be classified as changing Title IV status for the following reasons: it closed, it no longer provides federal funded financial assistance, it lost Title IV eligibility, it combined or merged with another institution, it is new, it began to provide federal funded financial assistance, or it regained Title IV eligibility.

Table A-1. Summary of response by IPEDS survey component, 2024–25 data collection

IPEDS survey component	Number of institutions
IPEDS survey component	Not required to report¹	Expected to respond	Did not respond²	Provided data
Fall collection period: September 4, 2024 to October 16, 2024
Institutional Characteristics	0	5,829	4	5,825
Completions³	0	5,760	6	5,754
12-Month Enrollment³	11	5,749	5	5,744
Winter collection period: December 4, 2024 to February 5, 2025
Admissions³	3,825	1,935	1	1,934
Graduation Rates³	587	5,173	10	5,163
Cost³	5	5,755	4	5,751
200 Percent Graduation Rates³	951	4,809	6	4,803
Outcome Measures³	2,212	3,548	5	3,543
Student Financial Aid³	25	5,735	8	5,727
Spring collection period: December 4, 2024 to April 2, 2025
Academic Libraries³	1,908	3,852	2	3,850
Fall Enrollment³	10	5,750	13	5,737
Finance	3	5,826	18	5,808
Human Resources	5	5,824	11	5,813

Notes:

² Due to unit nonresponse, all data were imputed for nonresponding institutions.

³ Does not include the 69 administrative offices. An administrative office is a system or central office in a multi-campus environment.

NOTE: Title IV institutions are those with a written agreement with the U.S. Department of Education that allows the institution to participate in any of the Title IV federal student financial assistance programs. The U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy are not Title IV eligible but are included in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) universe because they are federally funded and open to the public; they are included in this table. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is Title IV eligible and is also included in this table.

Definitions for terms used in IPEDS may be found in the online glossary located at https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/public/glossary. The glossary is primarily focused on terms used in the current IPEDS collection and may not reflect the definitions in effect when the data in this table were collected.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS 2024–25 collection (provisional data).

Table B-1. Number of Title IV institutions and number changing Title IV status: United States and other U.S. jurisdictions, academic years 2024–25 and 2025–26

Sector of institution	Title IV institutions¹ in 2024–25		Title IV institutions¹ in 2025–26		Net change in Title IV status from 2024–25 to 2025–26²
Sector of institution	Number	Number that are no longer Title IV in 2025–26	Number	Number that became Title IV since 2024–25	Net change in Title IV status from 2024–25 to 2025–26²
All institutions	5,760	126	5,711	77	-49

Public 4-year	845	1	859	0	-1
Private nonprofit 4-year	1,545	20	1,545	15	-5
Private for-profit 4-year	301	13	291	4	-9

Public 2-year	832	3	818	1	-2
Private nonprofit 2-year	125	4	121	0	-4
Private for-profit 2-year	490	25	480	23	-2

Public less-than-2-year	219	4	215	2	-2
Private nonprofit less-than-2-year	53	1	55	3	2
Private for-profit less-than-2-year	1,350	55	1,327	29	-26

¹ The U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy are not Title IV eligible but are included in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) universe because they are federally funded and open to the public; they are included in this table. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is Title IV eligible and is also included in this table.

² The net change indicated in this table is the result of changes to Title IV status (number that became Title IV since 2024–25 minus the number that were no longer Title IV as of 2025–26). Institutions that changed sector between 2024–25 and 2025–26 are not reflected in this column.

NOTE: Title IV institutions are those with a written agreement with the U.S. Department of Education that allows the institution to participate in any of the Title IV federal student financial assistance programs. An institution may be classified as changing Title IV status because it closed, it no longer provides federally funded financial assistance, it lost Title IV eligibility, it combined or merged with another institution, it is new, it began to provide federally funded financial assistance, or it regained Title IV eligibility. The United States includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The other U.S. jurisdictions include American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Counts exclude administrative offices. Definitions for terms used in IPEDS may be found in the online glossary located at https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/public/glossary. The glossary is primarily focused on terms used in the current IPEDS collection and may not reflect the definitions in effect when the data in this table were collected.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS, Fall 2024 Institutional Characteristics component (provisional data) and Fall 2025 Institutional Characteristics component (provisional data).