The Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) is seeking a renewed three-year clearance for the College Affordability and Transparency Explanation Form (CATEF) data collection. OPE has collected this information since 2011-12 and the collection of information through CATEF is required by §132 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended (HEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1015a with the goal of increasing the transparency of college tuition prices for consumers. This submission is for the 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 collection years. CATEF collects follow-up information from institutions that appear on the tuition and fees and/or net price increase College Affordability and Transparency Center (CATC) Lists for being in the five percent of institutions in their institutional sector that have the highest increases, expressed as a percentage change, over the three-year time period for which the most recent data are available. The information collected through CATEF is used to write a summary report for Congress which is also posted on the CATC website (accessible through the College Navigator).
US Code:
20 USC 1015a
Name of Law: Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA)
No changes are being requested to the data collection instruments approved in November 2012 (OMB# 1840-0822 v.2). We will continue to use the same two CATEF forms: (1) Net Price and (2) Tuition and Fees. However, because the responding institutions in 2013-14 reported a higher average time per response than what we estimated in the last approved submission, we are adjusting the total annual estimated burden to 3.55 hours per form. In order to better understand the factors that influence the response burden time per form and to arrive at a more accurate burden estimate for future OMB submissions, we plan to hold a small number of debrief calls (for an average of 8 minutes per call with up to 5 institutions per each of the 9 sectors). Thus this submission reflects a total burden time increase of an additional 1,374 hours due to burden estimate adjustment plus 6 hours due to program change.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.