Eighty-seven percent of the agency’s research officials said they would benefit from more time to compile seven years of federal admissions data they plan to use to look into illegal immigration practices.
Citing that and other findings from a survey of 390 institutional research and data experts published Thursday, the Association for Institutional Research asked the Department of Education to extend the deadline for the newly created Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) survey by three months—from March 18 to June 18. That extension “will support the accuracy, integrity of the organization we wrote to on Wednesday,”
The Department of Education did not respond Within Higher Edquestions about the ACTS survey, including whether it plans to extend the deadline.
In August, Trump ordered the ED to collect age-disaggregated admissions data from colleges and universities—including test scores, grade points, race, gender and income categories of students who applied, were accepted and enrolled dating back to 2019—to ensure they are not illegally considering race in such US Court decisions. Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard in 2023.
But public comments released last fall showed widespread concern as higher education institutions and their advocates said the ACTS survey data collection requirements are too vague, the requested data centers don’t collect, could violate student privacy and could overburden institutional resource offices—including many with only one or two full-time employees. At the same time, the Ministry of Education has abolished the National Center for Education Statistics, leaving few employees to help the centers to monitor the IPEDS reporting process.
The AIR commentary noted that approval of the survey would involve “a very large increase [Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System] history, adding more than 100 new questions and about 10,000 data fields. ”
Despite those warnings, the Ministry of Education finalized the law in December, giving institutions 120 days to submit the information. Generally, institutions have a full year to collect and submit additional IPEDS data.
Until now, implementing ACTS has been a burden for many of the agency’s resource offices, which are also likely to submit additional IPEDS data and other end-of-life data this spring.
‘Stretched Little’
According to an AIR survey conducted in February, nearly 90 percent of institutional researchers said recruitment capacity, data availability or quality, definition of definitions or requirements, and timing or uncertainty related to evolving guidance were the main barriers affecting timely and accurate data submission.
Only 4 percent of the institutions surveyed submitted the required files to IPEDS for the ACTS audit. Meanwhile, 81 percent said they are still in the planning stages or compiling information. “I am a one-person IR and Assessment office and I have no boundaries in my work,” said one survey respondent. “With all the cuts to education, the workforce is getting smaller,” added another. “I just don’t have the FTE for such a large project.”
Others noted a variety of concerns, including 71 percent who said they were severely or moderately challenged by data availability and 52 percent who said the same about technical or system limitations.
“The business plans are designed to run the university, not to segregate students and transactions into the categories required by ACTS,” said one resource center official. Another added that “data systems change over time, and asking for seven years of back data makes this a very difficult task.”
Questions About Quality, Objective
Additionally, 74 percent said they found it very or moderately challenging to interpret the ACTS definitions and guidelines. At the same time, 68 percent said it was a moderate or great challenge to maintain data quality and consistency.
“It is difficult to move quickly if the data interpretations are not clear … or we find that some schools have received different guidance from the IPEDS help desk,” one survey respondent told AIR. Another commented that “IPEDS gives conflicting answers to so many questions.” A third complained that with five weeks to go before the deadline, details of the quality control review process were not yet available online.
In some cases, colleges don’t even have the information the government is asking for.
“They’re asking for unweighted averages in high school, but that’s something we don’t need—we have some students but not others. That’s an area we’re probably going to leave blank,” John Nugent, director of institutional research and planning at Connecticut College, said. Within Higher Ed.
“We don’t require test scores either, so we have a lot of gaps in our admissions data. And there are a lot of other schools like that,” he added. “What is the federal government going to do with data schools if they have vacancies like this?”
Although Nugent is among the majority of research officials at the institutions who say they will benefit from the extended deadline for submitting ACTS research data, many offices are moving forward to meet the March 18 deadline until they hear otherwise.
And the numbers have never been higher.
In addition to institutions facing fines of up to $71,545 for not completing and submitting data, the ACTS survey is part of the Trump administration’s larger battle to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs across higher education.
“Despite the decision The SFFAcontinuity is widely emphasized [DEI] in higher education raises concerns that illegal practices may continue because DEI has been used as an excuse to perpetuate subtle racism,” the letter reads. Federal Register notice requesting public comment on the addition of the ACTS survey to IPEDS.
It noted that because the federal government does not currently collect racial data on admissions and scholarships, it “has limited tools to ensure broad compliance with Title VI. [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964].” Collecting that data through ACTS “will help uncover illegal practices, enable the Department to better implement Title VI, and create positive incentives for voluntary compliance.”
A number of respondents to the AIR survey also raised questions about the government’s data-gathering plans.
“I’m not comfortable with the process that requires uploading data for each student,” said another. “Even the aggregated data identifies many of our individual students.” Others said “are they bothered [the administration was] we will make these indexed summaries” and “have serious doubts that the data we send will be used responsibly.”
But Erin Dunlop Velez, vice president of research for the Higher Education Policy Center, said she’s not sure the government will get what it wants from the ACTS survey data.
“This is not enough information to determine whether schools still use race in student admission decisions,” he said. “There are many factors that go into admissions decisions, but ACTS just collects some of the things: test scores and GPA … I think the Department of Education hopes that any school where the percentage of black students or other ethnic minorities has not gone down. [after SFFA]they must still be thinking about race. That is not true.”
Regardless of the government’s motivations for requiring the ACTS survey, IHEP also supports AIR’s request for a three-month extension.
“June 18 is a very early deadline for completion,” Velez said. “The bottom line is that the rapid implementation of ACTS data collection has compromised data quality and overburdened research offices.”
