While we are still waiting to see regulations on reporting changes in the HEA reauthorization, institutions face additional Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) reporting requirements in the near future.

In his National Chair Blog, 2009-09 NASFAA National Chair David Gruen expressed feelings that many financial aid administrators can likely relate to:

"(I) certainly hope that our legislators are not experiencing fevers, hysterics and frenzies, but in my cursory look at the bill, I may experience some of those characteristics," he wrote. "As in any legislation, there is some good, some bad and some really bad - year-round Pell Grants are good; ACG for those seeking certificates is good; simplified aid application process for low-income students is good. However, the bill appears to be much more intrusive for our schools than previous legislation due to perceived needs for additional consumer information - not necessarily bad because we can all agree that transparency is good, but time consuming and probably not very meaningful in the end."

In addition to the reporting challenges included in the HEA bill, institutions will have more to report to IPEDS. NASFAA and other higher education organizations have been actively engaged in discussions about criteria used in the new reporting requirements (such as adding part-time students in the Graduation Rate Survey (GRS) and criteria used in defining a part-time student), but there are other changes to the upcoming IPEDS report cycle in 2008-09 through 2010-11 due to more consumer information needs.

The following changes have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to be effective beginning with the 2008-09 IPEDS data collection. The changes or additions will be optional in the first year (2008-09) and mandatory in subsequent years. The chart below tabulate changes in IPEDS Student Financial Aid (SFA) Report:

		Data collected for full-time, first-time cohort
Current SFA Categories	Proposed SFA Categories	Number of recipients	Amount Received
Any aid	Any aid	X
	Any grant	X	X
	Any loan	X	X
Federal grants	Pell grants	X	X
	Other federal Grants	X	X
State/local grants	State/local grants	X	X
Institutional grants	Institutional grants	X	X
Loans	Federal loans	X	X
	Other loans	X	X

NASFAA will continue to be involved in discussions with NCES and other associations in Higher Education on reporting changes due to HEA Reauthorization Bill and will keep you posted on this subject.

Posted 08/05/08 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.