Postsecondary Institutions and Price of Attendance in the United States: Fall 2009, Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 2008-09, and 12-Month Enrollment: 2008-09. First Look. NCES 2010-161

This "First Look" presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) fall 2009 data collection, which included three survey components: Institutional Characteristics for the 2009-10 academic year, Completions covering the period July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009, and 12-Month Enrollment covering academic year 2008-09. The data on which this report is based are available to researchers and the public through the IPEDS Data Center and the College Navigator. Both of these sources can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds. This "First Look" report is based on the collection of data from more than 6,700 postsecondary education institutions that participate in Title IV federal student financial aid programs. The purpose of this report is to introduce new data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information. Tabulations in this report focus on selected data items collected in fall 2009 from 6,822 Title IV institutions and administrative offices in the United States. Table 1 also includes the 154 Title IV institutions in the other jurisdictions. Unless otherwise indicated, imputed data were included in the tabulations in place of missing data for institutions that did not report values for the necessary items. The selected items in this report, as well as the other items collected in fall 2009, are available through the IPEDS Data Center. Several tables in this "First Look" display trends over time. In table 4, the time points displayed were chosen to demonstrate the range of data available from IPEDS for trend analysis, not to emphasize any particular period of change. In tables 5 and 6, the time period of three years was chosen to reflect the same period as the College Affordability Index (CAI). The CAI, which is calculated over a three year period, is the ratio of the percentage change in tuition and required fees for full-time, first-time undergraduate students to the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index. No comparison of tables 5 and 6 to the CAI is intended. Instead, tables 5 and 6 provide an additional, complementary source of information on the change in the price of attendance for full-time, first-time undergraduate students. Appended to this report is the survey methodology and a glossary of IPEDS terms. (Contains 13 tables and 10 footnotes.)[For the 2008 report see ED506744.]