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

2024–25 IPEDS Data Collection: Winter Provisional Data Release

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2024-25 Memo

• 2023-24 Memo
• 2022-23 Memo
• 2021-22 Memo
• 2020-21 Memo
• 2019-20 Memo
• 2018-19 Memo

The provisional data release of the components collected during the winter collection period of the 2024–25 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 Student Financial Aid (SFA) component there were notable changes. The most notable change was the cost of attendance updates and average net price of attendance that were previously collected via the SFA component have been moved to the new Cost (CST) survey component. The other items previously collected in the SFA component are still included there. Within the Graduation Rates (GR) component the “Gender unknown” and “Another gender” question was removed due to privacy concerns and because the cohort was established several years in the past, so institutions may not have this information for the full cohort. In the Admissions (ADM) component, the definition of “considered” was clarified, and the description of “admissions considerations” was updated for greater precision. Additionally, the “Gender unknown” and “Another gender” question was revised to improve clarity. 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.¹ 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 winter collection period of the 2024–25 IPEDS, which was open from December 4, 2024, to February 5, 2025.

2024–25 IPEDS Universe of Institutions

The IPEDS universe is established during the fall collection period. During the 2024–25 collection year, there were 5,829 Title IV institutions, administrative offices,² and U.S. service academies ³ in the United States and other jurisdictions of the United States, such as Puerto Rico. For 2024–25, a total of 533 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. ⁴ Of the 103 institutions that were Title IV in 2023–24 but were no longer Title IV in 2024–25, some 63 were private for-profit institutions. 

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