[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 217 (Thursday, November 13, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50940-50941]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-19874]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2025-SCC-0382]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2025-26 
Through 2026-27

AGENCY: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of 
Education Sciences (IES), 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 
December 15, 2025.

ADDRESSES: To access and review all the documents related to the 
information collection listed in this notice, please use https://www.regulations.gov by searching the Docket ID number ED-2025-SCC-0382. 
Comments submitted in response to this notice should be

[[Page 50941]]

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, the 
Department 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 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 National Center for 
Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department 
of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, LBJ, Room 5C133, Washington, DC 
20202-1200.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Matt Soldner, 202-453-7441.

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: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 
(IPEDS) 2025-26 through 2026-27.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0582.
    Type of Review: A revision of a currently approved ICR.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Private Sector; State, Local, and 
Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 70,152.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 750,793.
    Abstract: The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) seeks 
authorization from OMB to make a change to the Integrated Postsecondary 
Education Data System (IPEDS) data collection. IPEDS is a web-based 
data collection system designed to collect basic data from all 
postsecondary institutions in the United States and the other 
jurisdictions. The IPEDS data collection enables NCES to report on key 
dimensions of postsecondary education such as enrollments, degrees and 
other awards earned, tuition and fees, average net price, student 
financial aid, graduation rates, student outcomes, revenues and 
expenditures, faculty salaries, and staff employed. A subset of these 
elements are disaggregated by race and sex.
    In this change, we are requesting to add the new IPEDS ``Admissions 
and Consumer Transparency Supplement'' (ACTS) survey component. On 
August 7, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued a Presidential 
Memorandum entitled ``Ensuring Transparency in Higher Education 
Admissions,'' available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/ensuring-transparency-in-higher-education-admissions/. 
In that memorandum, President Trump directed the Secretary of Education 
to, within 120 days of that date, ``expand the scope of required 
[IPEDS] reporting to provide adequate transparency into admissions.'' 
On that same day, Secretary McMahon issued a directive to NCES to 
initiate a series of changes to IPEDS during the 2025-26 school year. 
That directive is available at https://www.ed.gov/media/document/secretary-directive-ensuring-transparency-higher-education-admissions-august-7-2025-110497.pdf.
    The data to be collected from ACTS are intended to capture 
information that could indicate whether institutions of higher 
education are using race-based preferencing in their admissions 
processes. To access and review the proposed data elements for the ACTS 
collection and all other documents related to the information 
collection listed in this notice, please use https://www.regulations.gov by searching the Docket ID number ED-2025-SCC-0382.
    As previously stated in the 60-day notice associated with this 
proposed change, the ACTS component was expected to be applicable to, 
at a minimum, all four-year institutions. We posed a Directed Question 
to the public to seek their feedback on the appropriateness of that 
determination. Based both upon our initial thinking and public comment, 
we propose limit eligibilty of ACTS to the four-year sector. We further 
propose that otherwise eligible institutions that admit 100 percent of 
their applicants and do not award non-need-based aid be exempted from a 
given collection year. Responses to our second Directed Question, 
related to burden, as well as our responses to other comments received 
in response to the 60-day notice associated with this proposed change, 
are available. Both can be found at https://www.regulations.gov by 
searching the Docket ID number ED-2025-SCC-0382.

Ross Santy,
Data Officer, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.
[FR Doc. 2025-19874 Filed 11-12-25; 8:45 am]
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