Colleges Face Updated Data Reporting for Student Insights
Published Date: 11/12/2025
Notice
Summary
The Department of Education is updating its big college data survey, called IPEDS, for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years. Colleges and universities will share info about students, finances, and more, helping everyone understand higher education better. They’re asking for public feedback by December 15, 2025, to make sure the process is smooth and not too time-consuming.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
New ACTS Admissions Survey Added
The Department of Education will add the Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) to the IPEDS collection for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years to collect admissions data that could indicate race-based preferencing. NCES estimates the overall IPEDS collection will have 70,152 annual responses and 750,793 annual burden hours. The ACTS component is proposed to apply at a minimum to four-year institutions and the public comment deadline is December 15, 2025.
Exemptions for Open-Admission Schools
The Department proposes that otherwise eligible institutions that admit 100% of their applicants and do not award non-need-based aid be exempted from the ACTS collection for a given collection year. The notice also states NCES proposes to limit ACTS eligibility to the four-year sector.
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