AICCU Annual State Reporting Survey

  • Fall 2020 Collection Guidesheet

  • Questions? E-mail randy.tarnowski@aiccu.edu

  • Last Updated: 1/12/21
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Overview

This document provides guidelines for the 2020 AICCU Annual State Reporting Survey and will be updated with additional notes as needed. As such, if you are responsible for submitting the survey, please consider bookmarking this page.

Components detailed here include:

FAQ

Why does AICCU need the Annual State Reporting Survey (ASRS)? In short, responses to the Annual State Reporting Survey are critical to advocacy on behalf of independent, nonprofit colleges and universities in California. Much of the advocacy work conducted by AICCU institutions focus on the intersection between state funding and independent institutions—Cal Grant, California community college transfers, teacher credentialing, and more. Given the diversity of independent institutions in California, these data are critical for giving policymakers and other stakeholders a fuller picture of our segment. 

For example, legislative efforts to increase the Cal Grant funding formula hinged on our survey collection in 2017. AICCU used 2017 ASRS data to aggregate Latinx Cal Grant students in the independent sector, which played a key role in gaining the support of the California Latino Legislative Caucus. This information is not collected by the California Student Aid Commission and is only available in aggregate via these surveys.

Could AICCU pull these datapoints from IPEDS? No. The questions requested in the ASRS are focused on disaggregation of financial aid, enrollment, and ethnicity by state-level variables (Cal Grant, California residency, transfers) for both full-time and part-time students. That said, we have made it a priority to keep the ASRS limited to only association critical items.

We have non-degree students who are not enrolled in degree programs but take courses that could count towards a degree eventually. Should we report them? Yes, though please closely read the IPEDS definition of eligible undergraduate students below. If it aligns with this narrow definition, please include them in the count:

Part A: Unduplicated Count of Full-Time Undergraduate Students by Race/Ethnicity and Gender
 "include all students enrolled for credit, full-time at the undergraduate level at any time during the...reporting period. The undergraduate level includes students enrolled in undergraduate level courses, in 4 or 5 -year bachelor’s degree programs, associate’s degree programs, or any certificate programs below the baccalaureate level. Students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree but are taking undergraduate courses for credit should be included as undergraduates. "

Full-time, non-degree/non-certificate-seeking full-time undergraduate students
"report the total number of full-time non-degree/non-certificate-seeking undergraduate students. These students are enrolled for credit but not with the intent of earning a degree or other recognized postsecondary credential for a whole reporting period. Note: High school students enrolled in creditable courses prior to high school graduation are considered non-degree/non-certificate-seeking students." https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/public/survey-materials/package?surveyid=9&instructionid=30069&formid=69&faqid=11

What is the purpose of the COVID portion? Didn't I already submit this? Your institution may have completed a 12-question COVID survey back in September. This was incredibly helpful for advocacy efforts, though it was intentionally kept short to allow for easy completion. These questions are follow-ups around critical aspects of COVID enrollment, including ethnicity, pell status, and age. This information will be connected to research and advocacy reports that will be released in early 2021

We have campuses outside of California. Should we report on those as well? No. Please only report on your California campuses.

Will we have access to this information in the future? Yes. AICCU is in the process of building a longitudinal database of ASRS responses for member access. AICCU is also exploring options for self-service portals for key institutional stakeholders to log in and access previous surveys as needed.

Can I submit the survey in spreadsheet format? AICCU would greatly prefer the ASRS to be submitted through our SurveyMonkey link due to added validation rules. This will help streamline the data cleaning and management process across all participating institutions.

If there is an outstanding need for spreadsheet submission, please reach out to Randy Tarnowski (randy.tarnowski@aiccu.edu)

What has changed since last year's collection In addition to the creation of this guidelines page, we have reduced the number of questions by a third and extended the overall deadline.

We have also added validation checks for all numeric fields. Words, letters, decimals, percentages, and non-numeric characters will not be accepted in these fields. For dollar amounts, we request that respondents round to the nearest dollar and do not include any symbols (e.g., $5,023.28 should be entered as 5023). If there are any qualifying notes that AICCU should be aware of, please include these in the “clarification points” sections at the bottom of each page.

What validations rules are there? We have also added validation checks for all numeric fields. Words, letters, decimals, percentages, and non-numeric characters will not be accepted in these fields. For dollar amounts, we request that respondents round to the nearest dollar and do not include any symbols (e.g., $5,023.28 should be entered as 5023). If there are any qualifying notes that AICCU should be aware of, please include these in the “clarification points” sections at the bottom of each page.

Can I save my progress in SurveyMonkey? We have done two things to allow for revisiting/editing SurveyMonkey responses: first, we have placed all questions on a single page so that the survey can be started/continued without losing a view of progress. Second, we have enabled “Response Editing”, meaning your institution will be able to edit responses even after the survey is submitted. Note that this will only work if it is the same device/IP address.

Due to cost efficiency and ease of use, we find that Survey Monkey continues to be the best platform for us to use, though we continue to look for ways to make the experience a little easier. In this case, we recommend using either the PDF or Excel file (linked below) to capture all responses to allow for the completion of the survey in a single session.

How will these data be used? All information collected through the survey will only be reported in the aggregate and the sector report will be compiled by AICCU.

This year, we also intend to produce institution-level dashboards that will compare institutional numbers to regional, size, and overall aggregate numbers. More details on this will be sent in 2020.

I submitted the first part of the survey without entering any data and now it won’t let me start a new survey. What should I do? If you submitted early or made a mistake, please reach out to Randy Tarnowski (randy.tarnowski@aiccu.edu) to receive these responses (if you have not already recorded them) and delete the case. After, you may restart the survey with the same link.

If it does not let you return to those fields to complete a new survey, please clear the cache/use incognito mode or a separate web browser. This is because SurveyMonkey bases completion on cookies and IP addresses.

What is meant by capacity? For capacity, we are we are looking for the percentage of annual enrollment over your institution’s maximum capacity for undergraduates in the future. For five year projections, we are looking for your institution’s maximum capacity set aside for undergraduates.

If your institution does not establish these capacity numbers, please leave these responses blank and make a brief note in the comments section at the end of the survey

Are there any questions where I should report our graduate/certificate-seeking students? No, for the purposes of this survey, please only report out your undergraduate students (full and part time). To reduce confusion and burden, we have limited it to only students in those categories.

Our academic year does not align with 4-1-4, so we report a unique set of terms to IPEDS. What data should we use? If you have an internal definition of academic that differs from the terms that are reported to IPEDS, please utilize the IPEDS structure. For example, if your institution’s academic year includes Fall 1 2018, Fall 2 2018, Spring 1 2019, Spring 2 2019, Summer 1 2019, Summer 2 2019, but you report a different arrangement to accommodate the IPEDS reporting requirement (July 1- June 30), please use that: in this case, the 2018/19 IPEDS year would include: Summer 2 2018, Fall 1 2018, Fall 2 2018, Spring 1 2019, Spring 2 2019, and Summer 1 2019.

Our school has a unique term and thus, definition of full-time. How should we calculate full-time for survey purposes? Given the diversity of institutions, we request that you define full-time in a similar manner as you do for IPEDS reporting. For instance, if your institution defines full-time load in terms of IPEDS year (~30 credit hours), please utilize that as the threshold to categorize student types.

Should we count students as a Cal Grant recipient if they received the Cal Grant at any point in their enrollment? What about on the Graduation Rate Questions? For questions around Cal Grant Enrollment (How many unduplicated undergraduate students enrolled full-time at your institution during the academic year), please record CalGrant recipients as those that received the CalGrant at any point within the academic year in question: If a student received the calgrant in the spring but not the fall, they count as a Cal Grant recipient.If they received in the 2017-18 year but not in the 2018-19 year, they do not count The reasoning behind this is that it should be linked with the total amount reported in #7 (Total Aid Amount (All Students [FT and PT])).

For questions around Cal Grant graduation rate (What was the 4-year graduation rate for the cohort of Cal Grant recipients), please include any students that 1) were part of the requested cohort and 2) who received the award at any point during their time at your institution. This will be made more explicit in future iterations of this survey.

Which students are included in the cohorts used to calculate the graduation rate? The same students that constitute IPEDS cohorts should be included in this cohort (all full-time, first-time students seeking a bachelor's or equivalent degree upon entering the institution). Please refer to the IPEDS 200% graduation rate reporting instructions here for more details.

Is the survey for both of our California campuses combined or just one? It should capture relevant undergraduate students from all California campuses of the responding institution. If these are not available for certain fields (such as capacity), feel free to report it as best you can and note it in the comment question at the end of the survey

For students that were full-time the term they were here, but were only here for one of the two terms, am I correct to count those as 'less than full-time' because they weren't full-time both terms? Please consider students that were enrolled full-time during the survey period as full-time students.

When you say 'average amount of aid awarded', does this mean all students in that group (regardless of if they awarded) or average amount awarded to students who were awarded? We are interested in average amount awarded to those within each subgroup (so as framed in your question, “average amount awarded to students who were awarded”).

As an example: For the "average amount of Cal Grant dollars for full-time Pell Grant students" question, we would calculate as follows: College A had 100 Full-Time Pell Grant students and among these, 50 recipients of the CalGrant. We are interested in the average CalGrant amount for those 50 recipients. I see now that the question might suggest that it is the average of all Pell Grant students, even if they didn’t receive a CalGrant. This wasn’t in intention of the question and will be fixed in the next round.



Survey Documents


Deadlines

Survey Sent
 November 23, 2020
Submission Date
 January 13, 2021
Factsheets Prepared for Legislators
 February 1, 2021


Definitions

Term Definition Source
Undergraduate A student enrolled in a 4- or 5-year bachelor’s degree program, an associate’s degree program, or a vocational or technical program below the baccalaureate.

unless otherwise specified, include all students enrolled for credit at the undergraduate level at any time during the…reporting period. The undergraduate level includes students enrolled in undergraduate level courses, in 4 or 5 -year bachelor’s degree programs, associate’s degree programs, or any certificate programs below the baccalaureate level. Students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree but are taking undergraduate courses for credit should be included as undergraduates.” 		IPEDS
Academic year The period of time generally extending from September to June; usually equated to 2 semesters or trimesters, 3 quarters, or the period covered by a 4-1-4 calendar system. However, if your institution has an internal definition of academic that differs from the terms that are reported to IPEDS, please utilize the IPEDS structure. IPEDS
Adult Learner (over the age of 24) We define “adult learners” as students over the age of 24. This aligns with IPEDS categorization of “non-traditional students”, in which being over the age of 24 is “the defining characteristic” IPEDS/AICCU
Financial aid Federal Work Study, grants, loans to students (government and/or private), assistantships, scholarships, fellowships, tuition waivers, tuition discounts, employer aid (tuition reimbursement) and other monies (other than from relatives/friends) provided to students to meet expenses. This excludes loans to parents. IPEDS
First-time student (undergraduate) A student who has no prior postsecondary experience (except as noted below) attending any institution for the first time at the undergraduate level. This includes students enrolled in academic or occupational programs. It also includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term, and students who entered with advanced standing (college credits or postsecondary form. IPEDS
Full-time A student enrolled for 12 or more semester credits, or 12 or more quarter credits, or 24 or more clock hours a week each term. If your institution defines full-time differently to IPEDS, please use this definition and make a note in the last “comments” question IPEDS
Hybrid Education This can depend on an institution’s own approach toward defining the term, but generally, a hybrid course is a course in which face-to-face meeting have been replaced by online learning/delivery. This is also known as blended courses. AICCU/University of La Verne (2017)
Institutional grants Scholarships and fellowships granted and funded by the institution and/or individual departments within the institution, (i.e., instruction, research, public service) that may contribute indirectly to the enhancement of these programs. Includes scholarships targeted to certain individuals (e.g., based on state of residence, major field of study, athletic team participation) for which the institution designates the recipient. IPEDS
Less-than Full-time (or part-time) A student enrolled less than 12 semester credits/quarter credits or less than 24 clock hours a week per term. If your institution defines less than full-time differently to IPEDS, please use this definition and make a note in the last “comments” question IPEDS
Online Education A course that does not require the student to attend the class in a face-to-face classroom setting. Course delivery is 100% online. AICCU/ University of La Verne (2017)
Pell/Cal Grant Eligible Meets eligibility requirements to receive the award. AICCU
Pell/Cal Grant Recipient Recipient is who took/used the award of those eligible. AICCU
Unduplicated count The sum of students enrolled for credit with each student counted only once during the reporting period, regardless of when the student enrolled. IPEDS


Future Edits

The following items should be added to future iteriations of this survey:

  • Clearer highlighting of undergraduate on every question
  • Fuller documentation of capacity
  • Clarification of Federal Work Study for AID questions (go off of IPEDS definition which includes it)
  • Clarification of Awarded vs. Recipients (are more interested in students that were awarded and received an award, not those that were awarded and did not receive)
  • Coding of each question to a variable (allow for easier download and analysis)
  • Rather than Other Scholarship or Grant Aid -> Other Grant Aid* (financial aid defined by IPEDS, see below for definition) and Other Loans*
  • Confusion around “Other Grant Aid” fix for future
  • * Cal Grant Aid * Institutional Scholarship or Grant Aid * Other Scholarship or Grant Aid, including… * Federal grant aid (Pell, SEOG, TEACH, etc.) * Other state grants (dream act, state rehab, chafee, etc) * Private/Outside grants * Loans (these can come from federal, institutional, or private funding, not sure if CA gives state loans) - excludes parent loans * Work Study - This is the only other piece not covered above TOTAL aid would then be the sum of these 5 buckets.

  • Suggested Taxonomy: * All Grants are either Federal, State, Institutional, or Other. Federal Grants include, but are not limited to, Pell Grants.  Our system classifies Employee/Relative Tuition Remission as a type of Institutional Grant but you need to specify because some colleges may classify them differently.   * Loans to Students are either Federal, Institutional, or Private; if there are any State loan programs I’m not aware of them.   * Work Study is really its own, complex animal. Federal Work Study is a separate line item in the Common Dataset, for what it’s worth, and it is clear that the Common Dataset is not asking us to tote up all the institutional dollars we may spend on student workers.  I recommend consulting with other AICCU schools on how to handle Work Study dollars.