[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26189-26190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09416]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No. ED-2022-SCC-0059]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 2023-
24 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:24) Field Test--
Institution Contacting and List Collection

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Department of Education 
(ED).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ED is 
proposing a revision of a currently approved information collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
July 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: To access and review all the documents related to the 
information collection listed in this notice, please use http://www.regulations.gov by searching the Docket ID number ED-2022-SCC-0059. 
Comments submitted in response to this notice should be submitted 
electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov by selecting the Docket ID number or via postal 
mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. If the regulations.gov 
site is not available to the public for any reason, ED will temporarily 
accept comments at [email protected]. Please include the docket ID 
number and the title of the information collection request when 
requesting documents or submitting comments. Please note that comments 
submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the comment period 
will not be accepted. Written requests for information or comments 
submitted by postal mail or delivery should be addressed to the 
Director of the Strategic Collections and Clearance Governance and 
Strategy Division, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, 
LBJ, Room 6W201, Washington, DC 20202-8240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Carrie Clarady, (202) 245-6347.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Education (ED), in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with 
an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing 
collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact 
of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. It also

[[Page 26190]]

helps the public understand the Department's information collection 
requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. ED 
is soliciting comments on the proposed information collection request 
(ICR) that is described below. The Department of Education is 
especially interested in public comment addressing the following 
issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to the proper functions of the 
Department; (2) will this information be processed and used in a timely 
manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the 
Department enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (5) how might the Department minimize the burden 
of this collection on the respondents, including through the use of 
information technology. Please note that written comments received in 
response to this notice will be considered public records.
    Title of Collection: 2023-24 National Postsecondary Student Aid 
Study (NPSAS:24) Field Test--Institution Contacting and List 
Collection.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0666.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved information 
collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 505.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 1,232.
    Abstract: This request is to conduct the 2023-24 National 
Postsecondary Student Aid Study Institution Contacting and List 
Collection Field Test (NPSAS:24 FT). This study is being conducted by 
the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the 
Institute of Education Sciences (IES), part of the U.S. Department of 
Education. This submission covers materials and procedures related to 
institution sampling, enrollment list collection, and matching to 
administrative data files as part of the NPSAS:24 FT data collection, 
and includes details about the full-scale institution sampling and 
enrollment list data collection. NCES will submit a separate clearance 
package covering the student FT data collection, including the student 
record data abstraction and student surveys, in the summer of 2022. The 
materials and procedures for NPSAS:24 are based on those developed for 
previous institution-based data collections, including the 2019-20 
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20) [OMB #1850-0666 v. 
23], and the 2017-18 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study 
Administrative Collection (NPSAS:18-AC) [1850-0666 v.21]. The first 
NPSAS was implemented by NCES during the 1986-87 academic year to meet 
the need for national data about significant financial aid issues. 
Since 1987, NPSAS has been fielded every 2 to 4 years, most recently 
during the 2019-20 academic year (NPSAS:20). NPSAS:24 will be 
nationally-representative. The NPSAS:24 field test sample size will be 
6,000 students, and the full-scale sample will include 137,000 
nationally representative undergraduate and 25,000 nationally 
representative graduate students who will be asked to complete a survey 
and for whom we will collect student records and administrative data. 
If the full-scale budget allows, we will include state-representative 
sampling for the full-scale collection, and provide the budget for a 
state-representative sampling plan in the 30-day full-scale package, 
planned for 2023. Also, if exercised, NPSAS:24 will serve as the base 
year for the 2024 cohort of the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) 
Longitudinal Study and will include a nationally representative sample 
of students who will complete requirements for the bachelor's degree 
during the NPSAS year (i.e., completed at some point between July 1, 
2022 and June 30, 2023 for the field test and July 1, 2023 to June 30, 
2024 for the full-scale). Subsets of questions in the student survey 
will focus on describing aspects of the experience of students in their 
last year of postsecondary education, including student debt and 
education experiences. This submission is designed to adequately 
justify the need for and overall practical utility of the full study, 
presenting the overarching plan for all of the phases of the 
institution sampling and enrollment list data collection and providing 
as much detail about the measures to be used as is available at the 
time of this submission. As part of this submission, NCES is publishing 
a notice in the Federal Register allowing first a 60- and then a 30-day 
public comment period. Field test materials, procedures, and results 
will inform the full-scale study. After completion of this field test, 
NCES will publish a notice in the Federal Register allowing additional 
30-day public comment period on the final details of the NPSAS:24 full-
scale institution sampling and enrollment list study.

    Dated: April 27, 2022.
Stephanie Valentine,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance, Governance and 
Strategy Division, Office of Chief Data Officer, Office of Planning, 
Evaluation and Policy Development.
[FR Doc. 2022-09416 Filed 5-2-22; 8:45 am]
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