IPEDS Changes are Approved – new ACTS data collection is now live

While the 2025 calendar year was winding down, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) quietly announced that they had received approval for the added IPEDS data collection, Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS). As of December 18th, 2025, the ACTS component has been added to the IPEDS data collection site and will remain open for collection until March 18, 2026. 

In August, the NCES announced the proposed ACTS data collection addition to the traditional IPEDS report in response to a memo from President Trump and a corresponding directive from Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Check out Berkshire’s previous blog for more information about the timeline of this new data collection.  

The new ACTS survey collects data on the number and status of both undergraduate and graduate student applicants, admissions, and enrollment characteristics. For undergraduate applicants, for example, this includes race/ethnicity, sex, application year, admissions status, unweighted secondary school GPA, test scores, and family income. For enrolled undergraduate students who are first-time, full-time degree certificate-seeking students, reporting includes information about financial aid, parental college attainment, and unweighted cumulative GPA after the first academic year. Similar data is also required for graduate applicants and enrolled students. During this collection period, the current year (2025-26) must be submitted and the 5 preceding years (2019-20 through 2024-25).  

As required, public comment periods were made available and over 3,500 comments were submitted by higher education institutions, advocates, and the public during the 60- day and 30-day public comment period after the original announcement of the ACTS proposal. The comments from the public appeared to mostly be a form letter in support of the additional data collection. The comments from individual higher education institutions and other advocacy groups, however, expressed concern over many of the proposed changes, including the accelerated timeline for the new data, lack of clarity in the definitions for new data points, concerns around privacy, and concerns about availability of the back years of data.  

The agency submitted responses to the themes of the comments but only offered one change to the original proposal. This included two-year colleges being exempt from additional data collection if they admit 100 percent of applicants and do not award non-need-based aid. There were no responses by the NCES to the comments provided during the 30-day period, and the announcement of the approval came just days after the closing of that second comment period.  

Additional materials to support the ACTS reporting, including instructions and frequently asked questions are now available online. 

Higher Education institutions who must file the ACTS data collection are now on the clock, with less than 90 days to submit the current year and look-back years of the new data requirements. While the timeline is short, it is still advised that institutions carefully review all data before submission and perform privileged analyses. Berkshire has many resources available to assist with the data review and analysis. Visit our College and University Admissions Data Analytics Services page for more ways that Berkshire is prepared to help.