Press Release
Submission of Seven Years of Detailed Data Due by March 18, 2026
Data to be Used for Potential Discrimination Investigations
First, the good news – if you are not employed at a college or university, you need not read further. For those in higher education, please read on.
Last year, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) proposed major changes to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) reporting that would significantly expand reporting obligations to include more detailed, disaggregated data on applicants for admission, admitted students, and enrollees through a new reporting tool, the Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS).
For background, the NCES proposal came on the heels of a Presidential Memorandum and Fact Sheet directing the Secretary of Education to require colleges and universities to be transparent regarding their admissions practices in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that consideration of race in higher education admissions is unconstitutional.
On December 18, 2025, the Administration approved the new ACTS survey and it is now required as part of the IPEDS 2025-2026 data collection cycle. Many U.S. colleges and universities must submit detailed data for the last seven academic years by March 18, 2026 . Some large university systems will have until April 1, 2026.
Highlights
- Objective: To identify unlawful 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
NCES and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) will use the expanded data to scrutinize whether colleges and universities are unlawfully favoring certain individuals based on race/ethnicity or sex in admission decisions.
What Should Colleges & Universities Do Now?
- Gather and vet current and historical data
- Assemble a taskforce of stakeholders such as institutional research, admissions, financial aid, and legal
- Consider conducting proactive, privileged statistical analyses on the data to assess risk and prepare for possible investigations
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