What graduation data are we collecting?

We want a record for each degree not major. A degree is, for example a B.S. or M.A. A major can be Business or Art. If a student has multiple majors in a degree put up to four in the four DegreeCIP columns. The time period for the graduation collection follows the IPEDS collection starting July 1 to June 30.

What cycles are for what terms?

Enrollment: Fall=1, Spring=2, Summer=3. Updates for previous years=4Spring=2, Summer=3. Updates for previous years=4. Graduates: Year July 1-June 30=1 Updates for previous years=4, Designated updates=2

Collection Year for File Upload?

The Collection Year is shortened to the first year. For example: 2016 is for the 2016-17 year

I have errors on the uniqueid and date fields

For fields that have leading zeroes, like the UniqueID and Date Fields, follow this procedure in Excel otherwise in other programs change the column to text. Right click on the column. Click format cells. Click Text.

Should I enter NULL for blanks as written in your data dictionary?

No NULL is the same as blank. Please leave the field blank if you have no data.

I am getting an error on the zip code

If the zip code has leading zeroes, many times excel will change the zip to a number and drop the leading zeroes. In excel change the format of any field with text to text.

Item 1 on enrollment tab asks for us to indicate if the record was included in the terms census count. When we report to IPEDS, we only use our census snapshot so this flag will always be “Y”

That is correct. Our hope is to replicate your fall enrollment in the future.

If a student identifies with more than one race, are we supposed to flag multiple items as “Y” for items 15-20 on enrollment tab and 14-19 on graduation tab?

You are correct that this is not a match for IPEDS reporting categories. The system was designed to pick up the data the same way the data is supposed to be collected at an institution per the federal regulations. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/rschstat/guid/raceethnicity/questions.html

One field for ethnicity and a separate field for each racial category. So any students marked on more than one race code, for instance black and white, would be reported on IPEDS as multi-racial.

So the mixed race needs to reported out for each race they checked yes for.

What does the “v” in the format 999v99 mean?

The “v” is an implied decimal. So the data will be submitted as 999.99.

If a field in the collection is blank do I need to fill it in with “null” or leave it blank?

Leave blank

When I login to my institution, and click on “Upload File”, the only submission year listed in the drop down menu is 2015. How then do I submit the historical data from 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16 if we are batching data by year?

For this initial collection for the backfilling years, the collection cycle can be used to separate the years to better manage the files (1=All 3 Years, OR 2=2013-14, 3=2014-15, 4=2015-16).

The User Guide page 9 says that “if you attempt to submit two or more different Enrollment files in the same cycle, the system will only acknowledge the last one attempted”. So if I submit our historical data in batches, one per historical academic year, how will all three data files be acknowledged and submitted? And if I submit batched historical data, what Enrollment Cycle do I select? I am offered 1, 2, 3, and 4 as choices.

For this initial collection for the backfilling years, the collection cycle can be used to separate the years to better manage the files (1=All 3 Years, 2=2013-14, 3=2014-15, 4=2015-16).

Can we have an extension?

IBHE will consider extensions on a case by case basis. Please reqeust an extension.

What do we do if our terms are different than semesters?

There are different codes for semester, trimester and quarters:
1 = S Fall Semester
2 = S Spring Semester
3 = S Summer Semester
4 = S Other Semester
6 = T Trimester 1
7 = T Trimester 2
8 = T Trimester 3
9 = T Other Trimester
A = Q Fall Quarter
B = Q Winter Quarter
C = Q Spring Quarter
D = Q Summer Quarter
E = Q Other Quarter 1
F = Q Other Quarter 2

Item 48 on enrollment tab asks for HighSchoolPercentileClassRank. However, ISU does not keep track of this information

For now you can leave those empty. We ask that you look into collecting this information in the future.

Item 53 on enrollment tab lumps undeclared with unclassified students at Level 0. However, if a student is undeclared, he or she is seeking a bachelor’s degree; the student just hasn’t identified a specific major yet. Wouldn’t it make more sense to count undeclared in Level 5 – Bachelor’s degree? Also, there is no category for students-at-large (i.e., non-degree seeking graduate students). These are students who have previously earned a bachelor’s degree or higher and are taking classes for enrichment purposes – not to earn a graduate degree. Should we just lump them with “unclassified” students in Level 0 since neither are seeking a degree?

Yes. The undeclared/unclassified is for the degree they are pursuing not the major. If the students are not pursuing a post-bacc certificate or some other specific degree, they would be put in code 0. In column 55 code 8 is the correct code for these students.

Item 30 on the graduation tab asks for the degree or certificate level. A student can earn multiple awards in a single term. Do you want me to list one row per award per student per term?

For each degree earned there should be a different record. Not to be confused with multiple majors which can be collected in the four degree CIP fields.

Also, do we include non-IBHE approved certificates? IPEDS considers these formal awards

Yes, include non-IBHE approved certificates?

For the enrollment data, should we report only on students at initial entry or do we have to report on every student enrolled during each term of their matriculation?

We are asking for an enrollment record for each unique student enrollment per year and term.

We have master’s and doctorate students, do we report them?

Yes, we would like the enrollments and degree information.

What county code are we supposed to be using for the county of the permanent residence of the student? From what source are we to obtain that coding system?

The IL county codes are also included in the data dictionary on a separate tab. The codes are the same as what are used in the census. Out of state county codes can be left blank.

I received an error for a country code, why?

Use FIPS two-digit country codes ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 code https://www.iso.org/iso/english_country_names_and_code_elements

Are summer terms considered part of the prior academic year or of the coming academic year?

We have made the assumption that it is at the end of the academic year. The date of enrollment is what matters as well as when we ask you to submit the data for summer. That is why we are allowing you to submit the current summer for 15-16 in September if you do not have all your data by August 15.

1. Under “Enrollment Type” we have classified our “visiting students” under #6 since during their first term with us as they are not seeking a degree from our institution. How should they be classified in subsequent terms? We currently have them classified under #5 “continuing students.” Should they, however, remain classified under #6? ;
2. For full-time v part-time enrollment status, how are we expected to count credit hours? By individual program (e.g., J.D., LL.M., M.J., etc.) or across all programs (i.e., combine total credit hours in which a student is enrolled)? If we go with the former option, we will run into many instances where a joint degree student is considered full-time in one program and part-time in a different program. Additionally, we would need to count cross-listed courses only once as opposed to splitting credits (i.e., one program would receive full credits and the joint program would receive 0 credits).
3. When Lynne attempted to upload the Graduation File, she received the following error message: “Restricted PII.” Please advise.