Greatly Expanded IPEDS Reporting for
Colleges & Universities Approved by
Trump Administration
Submission of Seven Years of Detailed Data Due by
March 18, 2026
The Data Will Be Used for Potential Discrimination Investigations
First, the good news – if you are not employed at a college or university, you can stop here. For those in higher education, you’re going to want to read on.
Last year, we shared that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) proposed major changes to Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) annual reporting. The changes would significantly expand reporting obligations to include detailed data on applicants for admission, admitted students, and enrollees through a new reporting tool, the Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS).
It's now official, ACTS has been approved and, effective immediately, is required as part of the IPEDS 2025-2026 data submission cycle.
Many U.S. colleges and universities must submit detailed data for the last seven academic
years by March 18, 2026. However, some of the larger university systems will have until April 1, 2026.
What Colleges and Universities Need to Know
Objective: To identify unlawful discrimination practices that run afoul of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and recent Supreme Court case law.
Covered Institutions: Public, private for-profit, and private not-for-profit institutions that primarily award bachelor’s degrees or above.
Scope of reports: Detailed data on undergraduate and graduate applicants, admitted students, enrolled students, and completers for the last seven academic years.
Data Components:
Race/ethnicity, sex (male/female only), admission status, admission type (i.e., early action, early decision, regular), standardized test scores, GPA, family income, Pell Grant eligibility, parental education, institutional aid, merit-based aid, other types of aid, graduation rates, and field of study.
How Will the Trump Administration Use the Data?
NCES and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) will use the data to scrutinize whether
colleges and universities are unlawfully favoring certain individuals based on race/ethnicity or sex in admission decisions in violation of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellow of Harvard College in which the Court held that race-conscious admission practices violate the Constitution.
We expect Trump Administration enforcement agencies will launch investigations, and possibly litigation, against colleges and universities whose data trends indicate potential unlawful discrimination in the admissions process.
What Should Colleges and Universities Do Now?
- Gather and assess current and historical data
- Assemble a taskforce of stakeholders such as institutional research, admissions, financial aid, and legal
- Carefully consider conducting proactive, privileged analyses on the data to identify and assess risk, and prepare for possible investigations and litigation
If you have any questions or want to discuss, simply reply to this email or contact the Silberman Law legal professional with whom you work.
