Institutional Enrollment List

3. Information Collected on Enrollment Lists

Sampled institutions will be asked to provide enrollment lists that will include several data items. These enrollment lists will be used to screen for eligibility and to select the NPSAS:12 student sample. These data items, requested for each student enrolled in the time frame of interest (July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2012 for the full-scale study) are presented below:

• Name

• Social Security Number (SSN)

• Student ID number (if different from SSN)

• Student level (undergraduate, masters, doctoral-research/scholarship/other, doctoral-professional practice, other graduate)

• FTB indicator

• Class level of undergraduates (first year, second year, etc.)

• Date of birth (DOB)

• High school graduation date (month and year)

• Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) code or major;

• Degree program

• Contact information (local and permanent street address and phone number and school and home e-mail address)

Name, SSN, and student ID will be used for identifying the students selected for sample, and student level will be used to form the student strata described in section B. The FTB indicator, class level, date of birth, and high school graduation date will be used to identify potential FTBs. High school graduation date has not been requested on lists in the past for NPSAS so we tested the feasibility of this request in the field test. The majority of institutions were able to provide this field, and no institution complained about being asked to provide it. The information proved useful in identifying current high school students who were ineligible for the study.

Schools will be asked to provide CIP code or major. Graduate students with science, technology, engineering, and math majors will likely be oversampled, and graduate students with business and education majors will likely be undersampled, so CIP code and major will be used to identify such students. Schools will be asked to provide degree program which we anticipate using to identify FTB’s in sub-baccalaureate programs.

As with NPSAS:04 and NPSAS:08, we will request locating data from institutions concurrent with the collection of student lists used for sample selection. This will allow web-based student record collection and interviewing to begin almost immediately after sample selection and thus help us meet the very tight schedule for data collection, data processing, and file development, especially in the full-scale study. For institutions unwilling to provide location data for all students on enrollment lists, we will request locating data only for sample students immediately after the sample is selected.

We recognize the sensitivity of requesting SSN and DOB for all students on enrollment lists, and appreciate the argument that it should be obtained only for sample members. However, collecting this information for all enrolled students is critical to the success of the study for several reasons:

• It is possible that some minors will be included on the lists, so we will need to collect DOB to identify minors and either exclude them from the population and from sampling or to not begin data collection for them until after they become 18 years old.

• Obtaining DOB will also aid in accurate identification of FTBs prior to sampling, as discussed below.

• Having SSN will ensure the accuracy of the sample, because it is used as the unique student identification number by most institutions. We need to ensure that we get the right data records when collecting data from institutions for sampled students. It will also be used to unduplicate the sample for students who attend multiple institutions.

• Making one initial data request of institutions will minimize the burden required for participation (rather than obtaining one set of information for all enrolled students, and then later obtaining a set of information for sampled students).

• An issue related to institutional burden is institutional participation. It is very likely that, if faced with two requests, some institutions would respond to the first request, but not to the second. Refusal to provide SSNs after the sample members are selected will contribute dramatically to student-level nonresponse because it will increase the rate of unlocatable students (see the following bullet).

• Collecting SSNs for all students on the enrollment list will allow early file matching procedures to be conducted with NSLDS and NSC to improve the rate at which FTBs are correctly classified for sampling (as described in section B.2.b).

• Obtaining SSNs early will allow us to initiate locating procedures early enough to ensure that data collection can be completed within the allotted schedule. The data collection schedule would be significantly and negatively impacted if locating activities could not begin at the earliest stages of institutional contact.

• NPSAS:12 will collect data from many administrative data sources on sample members to supplement data collected from students and institutions. The record matching procedures will be described in the student OMB package that will be submitted in September 2011.

• NPSAS data are critical for informing policy and legislation, and are needed by Congress in a timely fashion. Thus, the data collection schedule is also critical. We must be able to identify the sample, locate students, and finish data collection and data processing quickly. This will not be possible within the allotted time frame if we are unable to initiate locating activities for sampled students once the sample has been selected.

NPSAS:12 Full-scale Supporting Statement Request for OMB Review 1