Welcome to the Institutional Characteristics (IC) component. This component collects important information about your institution's mission, student services, and student charges.
Much of the data reported on IC appear on College Navigator, which is updated once after IC data have been reviewed. Thus, errors may stay on College Navigator for a full year.
Additionally, the cost of attendance data are used to calculate the net price of attendance in the Student Financial Aid component. This has important implications for what students see about your institution, and also for the College Affordability and Transparency Center's lists. Revisions or changes to costs can ONLY be made in the Student Financial Aid component and not in the prior year revision system.
Remember, it is the responsibility of the keyholder to submit accurate data about the institution. Please contact the IPEDS Help Desk for clarifications to make sure that you are reporting correctly.
- Survey cycle opens and Student Success Research & Analysis (SSRA) downloads survey documentation from IPEDS for the current year Box folder.
- SSRA Data Coordinator brings in data from BOG Submissions files for Tuition & Required Fees data calculation.
- SSRA Data Coordinator calculates Tuition and Required Fees for Undergraduate , Graduate and Professional programs for the respective academic year.
- Collect data from Office of Financial Aid (OFA) for Room and Board charges for the Academic Year cycle.
- Send email and collect data from Ana Hernandez AVP of , Housing and Residential Education for Part C Housing Capacity for the current academic year.
- SSRA Data Coordinator inputs data to IPEDS portal.
- SSRA runs the edit report.
- SSRA Data Coordinator runs checks and balances on edit report and survey data.
- Validate survey data from Office of Financial Aid (Billie Jo Hamilton).
- SSRA reviews Office of Financial Aid data with USF IPEDS Key-holder (Dr. Valeria Garcia) on changes and updates to the survey.
- SSRA Data Coordinator updates the source documents used to complete the survey to Box
- First lock by USF IPEDS Key-holder
- Save and share a copy of the submitted survey to BOX and USF ODS website.
| Submission Year | Reporting Criteria | Comments | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | Changes to reporting: The following changes have been made for 2025-26 collection:
| Change | ||
| 2023-24 | Changes to the IPEDS Data Collection: 2023-24. Part B - Student Services - Special Learning Opportunities Credit for life experiences Advanced placement (AP) credits None of the above | Change | ||
| 2022-23 | The following changes were implemented for the 2022-23 data collection period: The Mission Statement has been moved to the IC Header component and the Parts have been reorganized due to that move. There are new options for special learning opportunities. Removed remedial services option from Question B4, since it is now asked in IC Header Questions 1 and 5. A new option (Promise Plan) has been added in Part B (question 6b). In Part C, Question 2, academic institutions can select which of the tuition options are charged by their institution. Context boxes have new scripted options for Cost of Attendance from which you can choose, or you can provide your own context. There are other minor wording changes for clarification only. | Change | ||
| 2022-23 | Report data to accurately reflect the time period corresponding with the IPEDS survey component, even if such reporting is seemingly inconsistent with priory year reporting | Reminder | ||
| 2022-23 | Quality control reviews of past IC data indicate frequently made errors. Please review the common errors below to ensure accurate reporting. Part C, question 8 should only be marked 'YES' if your institution is EXCLUSIVELY distance education. Do not mark 'YES' if your courses/programs are also available in person. Do not try to outsmart fatal errors; this is falsifying data. Contact the Help Desk to override, or fix, the data. Make sure you understand ALL definitions before responding to questions. For example, make sure that you are reporting for an 'ACADEMIC YEAR' or 'PROGRAM' as defined by IPEDS. | Common Errors | ||
| 2021-22 | There are no changes to this survey component | Change | ||
| 2021-22 | Report data to accurately reflect the time period corresponding with the IPEDS survey component, even if such reporting is seemingly inconsistent with prior- year reporting. For example, if a summer term began later than usual due to Coronavirus Pandemic postponements, continue to report using the timeframes as defined in the IPEDS instructions. NCES expects that some data reported during the 2020-21 data collection year will vary from established prior trends due to the impacts of Coronavirus Pandemic. If an error edit is triggered even when submitting accurate data, please indicate in the corresponding context box or verbally to the Help Desk that the seemingly inconsistent data are accurate and reflect the effects of Coronavirus Pandemic. | Reminder | ||
| 2020-21 | The term ‘dual credit’ has been replaced with the term ‘dual enrollment’ | Change | ||
| 2020-21 | Report data to accurately reflect the time period corresponding with the IPEDS survey component, even if such reporting is seemingly inconsistent with prior-year reporting. For example, if a summer term began later than usual due to to Coronavirus Pandemic postponements, continue to report using the timeframes as defined in the IPEDS instructions. NCES expects that some data reported during the 2020-21 data collection year will vary from established prior trends due to the impacts of Coronavirus Pandemic. If an error edit is triggered even when submitting accurate data, please indicate in the corresponding context box or verbally to the Help Desk that the seemingly inconsistent data are accurate and reflect the effects of Coronavirus Pandemic. | Reminder | ||
| 2020-21 | Quality control reviews of past IC data indicate frequently made errors. Please review the common errors below to ensure accurate reporting.
| Common Errors |
Box Folders
- 2023-24 Institutional Characteristics IPED Documentation
- 2022-23 Institutional Characteristics IPEDS Documentation
- 2021-22 Institutional Characteristics IPEDS Documentation
- 2020-21 Institutional Characteristics IPEDS Documentation
IPEDS Survey Materials
Reference
Jira Issues
ODSPA-11451 - Getting issue details... STATUS
ODSPA-13754 - Getting issue details... STATUS