[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 188 (Friday, September 29, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 67269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21408]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2023-SCC-0176]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; 2023-24 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:24) 
Full-Scale Study--Student Data Collection and Student Records

AGENCY: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Department of 
Education (ED).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, 
the Department is proposing a revision of a currently approved 
information collection request (ICR).

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
October 30, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for proposed 
information collection requests should be submitted within 30 days of 
publication of this notice. Click on this link www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain to access the site. Find this information collection request 
(ICR) by selecting ``Department of Education'' under ``Currently Under 
Review,'' then check the ``Only Show ICR for Public Comment'' checkbox. 
Reginfo.gov provides two links to view documents related to this 
information collection request. Information collection forms and 
instructions may be found by clicking on the ``View Information 
Collection (IC) List'' link. Supporting statements and other supporting 
documentation may be found by clicking on the ``View Supporting 
Statement and Other Documents'' link.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department 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) Full-Scale Study--Student Data Collection and Student 
Records.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0666.
    Type of Review: A revision of a currently approved ICR.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals and households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 109,145.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 91,185.
    Abstract: This request is to conduct the 2023-24 National 
Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:24) Full-Scale Student Data and 
Student Records Collections. 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 data collection. The materials and 
procedures 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 sample size will include about 
2,000 institutions from which will be sampled 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. Also, NPSAS:24 
is scheduled to serve as the base year for the 2024 cohort of the 
Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) Longitudinal Study, but no funding is 
available to field follow-up surveys. In the event Congress 
appropriates additional funds, the NPSAS:24 sampling design 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, 2023, to June 30, 2024). 
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, education experiences, 
and preparation activities for those planning to teach at the preK 
through 12th grade level.
    Previous submissions were designed to adequately justify the need 
for and overall practical utility of the full study, presenting the 
overarching plan for all phases of the 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 the completed field test, NCES published 
a notice in the Federal Register allowing first a 60- and then a 30-day 
public comment period. Field test materials, procedures, and results 
have informed this request for clearance for the full-scale study. For 
this full-scale study, NCES first published a notice in the Federal 
Register allowing an additional 30-day public comment period on the 
final details of the NPSAS:24 full-scale study Institution Contacting 
and List Collection, which was approved in September 2023 (OMB# 1850-
0666 v.35). NCES is now submitting a separate clearance package 
covering the student data collection, including the student record data 
abstraction and student surveys, for an additional 30-day public 
comment period.

    Dated: September 26, 2023.
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. 2023-21408 Filed 9-28-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P