Third follow-up FAFS change memo

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M e m o r a n d u m	February 6, 2013


TO:		Shelly Martinez, Office of Management and Budget

FROM:	Elise Christopher, National Center for Education Statistics

THROUGH:	Kashka Kubzdela, National Center for Education Statistics

RE:	Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 Third Follow-up Financial Aid Feasibility Study (ELS:2002 FAFS) Change Request (OMB# 1850-0652 v.12)


After careful consideration of the ELS:2002 FAFS web data entry application and the planned design, NCES has concluded that the burden placed on institutions exceeds the benefit accrued by the Center. As such, we request permission to modify the study design which amends the ELS:2002 Third Follow-up Financial Aid Feasibility Study1.

The approved plan calls for all sampled institutions to provide nine years of student records data, 2004-05 through 2012-13. Instead, we would like to purposively assign institutions into one of four partially-overlapping groups, each providing data spanning only three years: a) 2004-05 through 2006-07, b) 2006-07 through 2008-09, c) 2008-09 through 2010-11, and d) 2010-11 through 2012-13. NCES recognizes that student enrollment is likely to peak in the early years of the proposed time period and taper off over time. As a result, we have examined enrollment data from ELS:2002 third follow-up, as well as prior rounds, to identify how many students each sampled institution enrolled during each study year, driving optimal group assignment.  This change reduces burden on individual institutions, retains the ability to chart changes in data quality over time, and can identify institutional challenges associated with providing multiple years of data for each student.

In addition to classifying institutions by the 9 strata outlined in the approved package, they will also be stratified by time as discussed above. To ensure that we have sufficient information for ELS:2002 FAFS, given the reduced per-institution burden, we will select 480 institutions to yield 400 participating institutions, up from the 359 selected and 300 participating in the original design.  With the revised design, the overall burden is still reduced. Revised institutional response targets by stratum are shown in Revised Exhibit B-1.

The 3,355 institutions will first be assigned to one of four time periods and 120 institutions will be sampled from each time period for a total of 480 sampled institutions. Institutions within each time period will be stratified into the nine sector-derived strata described previously and institutions will be sampled from each of the nine strata within the time period. As explained originally, an additional stratification will be implemented that classifies institutions by a measure of compliance burden.  Based on prior or current attendance of ELS:2002 third follow-up sample members, institutions will be classified, within time period and within the 9 sector-derived strata, as “high burden” (e.g., the number of ELS:2002 sample members in attendance is higher than the median)  or “low burden” (e.g., the number of ELS:2002 sample members in attendance is lower than the median)  members. 

Revised Exhibit B-2 reports the number of sampled institutions by stratum, the estimated student sample per stratum, the expected number of participating institutions, and the expected student sample per stratum among participating institutions. With this additional stratification by burden status, there will be 18 sampling strata in each time period.  A minimum of 6 (120/18 rounded down) institutions will be sampled from each of the 18 strata.  It is possible that there will not be a sufficient number of “high” or “low” burden institutions within a given institutional stratum to support the proposed sampling design.  In such an event, the second level of stratification will not be applied to institutions in the corresponding stratum.
Revised Exhibit B-1.  ELS:2002 institution sample sizes and yield
Institutional Stratum
Number of Institutions2
Expected Yield
Adjustment Factors3
Number to  Sample
Total
3,355
400
1.20
480
Public




2-year or less
847
64
1.14
74
4-year non-doctorate-granting
293
44
1.13
50
4-year doctorate-granting
323
47
1.13
54
Private




Nonprofit less-than-4-year
68
22
1.40
32
Nonprofit 4-year non-doctorate-granting
537
51
1.17
60
Nonprofit 4-year doctorate-granting
376
45
1.20
54
For-profit less-than-2-year
288
39
1.33
52
For-profit 2-year
310
46
1.17
54
For-profit 4-year
313
42
1.17
50

Revised Exhibit B-2.  ELS:2002 phase 1 burden estimates
Institutional Stratum
Number of Institutions to Sample
Estimated Student Sample Size
Expected Institution Yield
Expected Student Yield
Total
480
1,716
400
1,461
Public




2-year or less
74
341
64
294
4-year non-doctorate-granting
50
205
44
180
4-year doctorate-granting
54
523
47
455
Private




Nonprofit less-than-4-year
32
43
22
29
Nonprofit 4-year non-doctorate-granting
60
128
51
108
Nonprofit 4-year doctorate-granting
54
193
45
160
For-profit less-than-2-year
52
80
39
60
For-profit 2-year
54
95
46
80
For-profit 4-year
50
108
42
90

All ELS:2002 third follow-up sample members who attend, or attended, one or more of the sampled institutions during the time period assigned to an institution– as identified by the sample members themselves – comprise the student sample.  We estimate a total of 1,716 students to be represented by the 480 sampled institutions.  The 1,716 is calculated by simulating the sampling design and estimating the number of students using a simulated sample of 480 institutions.  The calculation of the 1,461 student yield is carried out by assuming that the number of students attending each participating institution in a given stratum is equal to the average number of students attending the sampled institutions in the same stratum.  For a given stratum, the average number of students is estimated by dividing the student sample size associated with the simulated sampled institutions and dividing by the number of simulated sampled institutions.	

In addition to sampling design changes, we request to add a few items to the FAFS collection which will allow us to gather feedback from data providers about their ability and potential willingness to engage in the task of providing multiple years of student-level data.  Included in this memo (Appendix 1) is a table of the approved FAFS data elements with the new items highlighted in yellow.  Also highlighted are a few additional items that were recently added. The Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and SMART Grant are two Federal Aid programs that are no longer offered, however since we are collecting financial aid data for past years, they need to be included. We also added checkbox items to each financial aid type (federal, state, institution, graduate, government/private) such that a user can quickly and easily indicate that a student had none of that type of aid.

The effect of the proposed approach on burden can be illustrated by tallying up the student-years (i.e., number of students enrolled multiplied by the number of years enrolled) for which we are requesting data. Considering the proposed sample of institutions, the revised approach will involve requesting data for less than half (43%) of the student-years we would have requested using the approved approach (2,200 versus 5,130). The average number of student-years by institution with the revised approach is 5, down from 11 with the original approach.

The revised burden estimate is provided in Revised Exhibit A-3. We have also revised the combined burden estimate accordingly, which reflects the burden of participation in ELS:2002 FAFS as well as the ELS:2002 Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

The operational schedule for the ELS:2002 third follow-up financial aid feasibility study and PETS will be modified slightly. Below is the revised schedule (Exhibit A-7).  The begin and end dates for phase 1 of PETS and FAFS will shift about 4 to 5 weeks due to this change.
 Revised Exhibit A.7	Operational schedule for ELS:2002 transcript collection and financial aid feasibility study collection
Activity
Start date
End date
Collect and code student transcripts (PETS)


    Phase 1
3/6/2013
6/28/2013
    Phase 2 and 3
8/15/2013
3/14/2014
Collect student financial aid records (FAFS)


    Feasibility study (concurrent with Phase 1 of Transcript study)
3/6/2013
6/28/2013

No modifications to the communication materials are needed. This change request does not affect the total cost to the government for the ELS:2002/12 study.


Approved burden:
Exhibit A-3.  Estimated burden on institutions for ELS:2002 FAFS and PETS 

Anticipated # of institutions
Estimated # of participating institutions
Average time burden per response1
Estimated # of responses
Total time burden (hours)
Financial Aid Feasibility Study
359
300
3.3 hrs
300
990
Postsecondary Transcript collection Phase 1
359
300
0.5 hrs
300
150
Combined burden


3.8 hrs

1,140
Phase 2 and 3 Transcript collection
2,827
2,484
0.5 hrs
2,484
1,242
Total Burden

2,784

3,084
2,382
1  Time is specified by institution not by student. 
NOTE: ELS:2002= Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 Third Follow-up. 

Revised burden (changes noted in blue):
Revised Exhibit A-3.	 Estimated burden on institutions for ELS:2002 FAFS and PETS 

Anticipated # of institutions
Estimated # of participating institutions
Average time burden per response1
Range of response times
Total time burden (hours)
Financial Aid Feasibility Study
480
400
2.0 hrs
0.8 to 6.7 hrs
800
Postsecondary Transcript collection Phase 1
480
400
0.5 hrs
0.5 to 5 hrs
200
Combined burden


2.5 hrs

1,000
Phase 2 and 3 Transcript collection
2,706
2,381
0.5 hrs
0.5 to 5 hrs
1,191
Total Burden

2,781

3,181
2,191
1  Time is specified by institution not by student. 
NOTE: ELS:2002= Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 Third Follow-up. 


Since the approval of the ELS:2002 Third Follow-up 2012 Full Scale study (OMB# 1850-0652 v.8), the ELS:2002) Third Follow-up Postsecondary Transcripts (ELS:2002 PETS) and Financial Aid Feasibility Study (ELS:2002 FAFS) was also approved on October 29, 2012 (OMB# 1850-0652 v.10). The total burden for PETS and FAFS was originally estimated to be 2,784 respondents, 3,084 responses, and 2,382 annual burden hours (see Exhibit A-3 above). The December 21, 2012, approval of an abbreviated questionnaire for the ELS:2002 Third Follow-up 2012 Full Scale study, resulted in the total estimated burden for the 10 minute Third Follow-up interviews plus ELS:2002 PETS and ELS:2002 FAFS to be 5,364 respondents (2,580+2,784), 5,664 responses (2,580+3,084), and 2,812 annual burden hours (430+2,382).  This submission revises the estimated burden to 5,361 respondents (2,580+2,781), 5,761 responses (2,580+3,181), and 2,621 annual burden hours (430+2,191).
Appendix 1
Revised ELS:2002 FAFS Data Elements
Revised Exhibit C-1.  ELS:2002 FAFS Data Elements 
NPSAS:12 Student Records Data Elements
Whether Collected for ELS:2002 FAFS
Institution Level Information

Length of time that institution maintains student financial aid information (NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)
Added for feasibility study: important in evaluating how far back financial aid information may be available
Length of time that institution maintains student enrollment information (NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)
Added for feasibility study: important in evaluating how far back enrollment information may be available
Length of time that institution maintains student budget information (NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)
Added for feasibility study: important in evaluating how far back budget information may be available
Length of time that institution maintains student tuition information (NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)
Added for feasibility study: important in evaluating how far back tuition information may be available
Length of time that institution maintains student degree information (NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)
Added for feasibility study: important in evaluating how far back degree information may be available
Contact Information

Permanent Contact Information
Address 1
Last known address
Address 2

City

State

ZIP

Country (if not USA)

E-Mail

Phone

International Phone

Local Contact Information
Address 1
Do not include - only collect one address
Address 2

City

State

ZIP

Campus E-Mail

Phone

Cell Phone

Permanent resident of <school state>?

Parent's Contact Information
First Name
Do not include - only collect one address
Middle Name

Last Name

Suffix

Address 1

Address 2

City

State

ZIP

Country (if not USA)

E-Mail

Phone

Cell Phone

International Phone

Other Contact Information
First Name
Do not include - only collect one address
Middle Name

Last Name

Suffix

Relationship to Student

Address 1

Address 2

City

State

ZIP

Country (if not USA)

E-Mail

Phone

Cell Phone

Additional Contact
First Name
Do not include
Middle Name

Last Name

Suffix

Phone

Relationship to Student

Student Info and Budget

Personal Information
First Name
Provide this information up front to the institutions in order to accurately identify the students.
Middle Name

Last Name

Suffix

DOB Month

DOB Year

Social Security Number

Gender

Driver's License
License Number
Do not include
License State
Do not include
Marital Status (Maiden and spouse name only applicable for married students)
Marital Status
Collect last-known
Maiden Name
Do not include
Spouse First Name
Do not include
Spouse Middle Name
Do not include
Spouse Last Name
Do not include
High School Information
Degree Type
Do not include
Degree Year
Do not include
Ethnicity and Race (For Race, select all that apply)
Ethnicity
Do not include
White
Do not include
African-American or Black
Do not include
Asian
Do not include
American Indian or Alaska Native
Do not include
Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
Do not include
Citizenship Status
Citizenship
Collect last-known
Veteran Status
Veteran of U.S. Armed Forces?
Collect last-known
ISIR
Last name from ISIR
Do not include
Social Security Number from ISIR
Do not include
Budget
Local residence
Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution
Tuition/fees

Books/supplies

Room and board

Health insurance

Transportation

Computer technology

All other expenses

Total cost of attendance

Budget period

Enrollment

Degree Program and Progress
Degree Program
Collect primary degree program, separately for each academic year student attended institution
Associate’s Type (Only applicable if degree program is Associate's)
Do not include
Master’s Type (Only applicable if degree program is Master's)
Do not include
Doctoral Type (Only applicable if degree program is Doctoral)
Do not include
Class Level
Collect primary level, separately for each academic year student attended institution
Expected to complete degree requirements by 6/30/2012?
Do not include
Cumulative (unweighted) GPA
Do not include
Baccalaureate Degree (Only applicable for graduate students)
Received baccalaureate degree?
Do not include
Month Received (mm)
Do not include
Year Received (yyyy)
Do not include
Major (Only complete one)
CIP code
Do not include
Current Major
Do not include
Undeclared
Do not include
Initial Enrollment
First Enrolled at this Institution Month (mm)
Include
First Enrolled at this Institution Year (yyyy)
Include
First-time Beginning Student?
Do not include
Transferred Credits from Another Institution?
Do not include
Last date of enrollment at this institution Month (mm) - NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12
Added for ELS:2002 FAFS: Enrollment end-date crucial for determining context/coverage for aid information
Last date of enrollment at this institution Year (yyyy) - NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12
Added for ELS:2002 FAFS: Enrollment end-date crucial for determining context/coverage for aid information
Number of Required Clock Hours (Only applicable for clock hour programs)
For Program
Do not include
Per Week
Do not include
Tuition Charged
Total Tuition and mandatory fees charged
Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution
Credit/clock hour information provides important context for tuition/aid information for given year.
Residency for Tuition Purposes

Total Credit Hours Billed - NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12

Total Clock Hours Billed - NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12

Enrollment status & Number of hours enrolled per term
[Term Name 1 (Start Date – End Date)]
Collect full-time/part-time status (for purposes of awarding financial aid) separately for each academic year student attended institution.  Include an option for "not enrolled" for each year.
Hours [Term 1]

[Term Name 2 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 2]

[Term Name 3 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 3]

[Term Name 4 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 4]

[Term Name 5 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 5]

[Term Name 6 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 6]

[Term Name 7 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 7]

[Term Name 8 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 8]

[Term Name 9 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 9]

[Term Name 10 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 10]

[Term Name 11 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 11]

[Term Name 12 (Start Date – End Date)]

Hours [Term 12]

Placement Tests
[Placement Test 1]
Do not include
[Placement Test 1] Month (mm)
Do not include
[Placement Test 1] Year (yyyy)
Do not include
[Placement Test 1] Score
Do not include
[Placement Test 2]
Do not include
[Placement Test 2] Month (mm)
Do not include
[Placement Test 2] Year (yyyy)
Do not include
[Placement Test 2] Score
Do not include
[Placement Test 3]
Do not include
[Placement Test 3] Month (mm)
Do not include
[Placement Test 3] Year (yyyy)
Do not include
[Placement Test 3] Score
Do not include
[Placement Test 4]
Do not include
[Placement Test 4] Month (mm)
Do not include
[Placement Test 4] Year (yyyy)
Do not include
[Placement Test 4] Score
Do not include
[Placement Test 5]
Do not include
[Placement Test 5] Month (mm)
Do not include
[Placement Test 5] Year (yyyy)
Do not include
[Placement Test 5] Score
Do not include
Aid Awarded

Satisfactory Academic Progress Status - NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12
Added in order to evaluate if we can get this information for BPS (important for persistence).

Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution
Federal Aid – amounts
This student had no Federal Aid for [enrollment year]

Pell grant
Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution.

Disbursed work-study amount added in order to see if it’s possible to get this data. Would be useful for BPS and NPSAS.
Subsidized Stafford loan

Unsubsidized Stafford loan

Parent PLUS loan

Graduate PLUS loan

Federal TEACH grant

Academic Competitiveness grant (ACG)

SMART grant

Perkins loan

Federal SEOG grant

Federal work-study – award amount

Federal work-study – disbursed amount- NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12

Iraq & Afghanistan Service grant

Veteran benefits

Federal health professions loan

Federal health professions disadvantaged loan

State Aid amounts - preloaded with the most common programs for that state
This student had no State Aid for [enrollment year]

[State aid program 1]
Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution
[State aid program 2]

[State aid program 3]

[State aid program 4]

[State aid program 5]

[State aid program 6]

[State aid program 7]

[State aid program 8]

[State aid program 9]

[State aid program 10]

[State aid program 11]

[State aid program 12]

Institution Aid amounts – specific programs collected at a student-level from institution
This student had no Institution Aid for [enrollment year]

Institution aid 1 name
Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution
Institution aid 1 type

Institution aid 1 amount

Institution aid 2 name

Institution aid 2 type

Institution aid 2 amount

Institution aid 3 name

[Institution aid 3 type

Institution aid 3 amount

Institution aid 4 name

Institution aid 4 type

Institution aid 4 amount

Institution aid 5 name

Institution aid 5 type

Institution aid 5 amount

Graduate Aid - amounts(Only applicable for graduate students)
This student had no Graduate Aid for [enrollment year]

Graduate fellowship/scholarship
Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution
Graduate Federal fellowship

Graduate Federal traineeship

Graduate teaching assistantship/stipend

Graduate research assistantship/stipend

Other graduate assistants/tutors/readers stipends

Graduate student tuition waivers

Graduate faculty/staff tuition waivers

Graduate institutional work study

Graduate institutional loan

Government/Private Aid – amounts
This student had no Government/Private Aid for [enrollment year]

Scholarships/grants from private organizations
Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution
Employer paid tuition

ROTC/armed forces grants

WIA/job training/vocational rehabilitation

Bureau of Indian Affairs grants

Scholarships/grants from outside state agency

Private loans

DC tuition assistance grant

Other/Specify Aid
Other aid 1 name
Collect separately for each academic year student attended institution
Other aid 1 type

Other aid 1 source

Other aid 1 amount

Other aid 2 name

Other aid 2 type

Other aid 2 source

Other aid 2 amount

Other aid 3 name

Other aid 3 type

Other aid 3 source

Other aid 3 amount

Other aid 4 name

Other aid 4 type

Other aid 4 source

Other aid 4 amount

Other aid 5 name

Other aid 5 type

Other aid 5 source

Other aid 5 amount

Institution Debriefing

About how many hours did it take you to provide the requested student information?
 (NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)
Added for feasibility study: important in evaluating institutional burden
If you had been asked to provide information about individual students for more than three academic years, would you have been willing to complete the request?
(NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)

[If willing to provide information for more than three years:]
How many additional academic years of individual student information would you have been willing to provide?
 (NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)

What could we have done to make completing this request easier for you or your institution?
(NEW ITEM FOR ELS:2002/12)