The NCAA News - News & Features

NCAA, government reach agreement on grad-rate reporting

At a recent meeting, representatives from the Department of Education agreed to:

* Consider revisions to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Graduation-Rates Survey (GRS) form to make it more similar to the current NCAA reporting form. Completion of this form will be required by all postsecondary institutions receiving federal financial assistance and will be sent in July 1997 by the department to all postsecondary institutions.

* Allow the NCAA to require its membership to return a copy of the GRS form to the NCAA at the same time it is returned to the Department of Education. The current NCAA form would be eliminated at that point.

* Allow the NCAA to clean and edit the data as it chooses.

* Permit the NCAA to publish and disseminate the data, along with additional data collected by the Association.

* Provide a waiver to NCAA institutions who participate in the NCAA's graduation-rates data compilation for purposes of compliance with the Student Right-to-Know Act.

The purposes of the IPEDS Graduation-Rate Survey and the Student Right-to-Know Act are quite different. The GRS is a compilation developed for statistical analysis, while the Student Right-to-Know Act is consumer-driven and intended to help students make better-informed decisions. Individuals within the Department of Education had suggested that institutions would be required to respond to both inquiries, but the recent agreement eliminates that possibility.

Sara N. McNabb of Indiana University, Bloomington, chair of the NCAA Special Committee on Graduation-Rates Disclosure Requirements, represented the NCAA at the meeting.

Another meeting with Department of Education officials will take place in September to complete the final details of the form. Under the Student Right-to-Know Act, institutions that award athletically related student aid must report enrollment data, as well as graduation and transfer-out rates, to the department beginning July 1, 1997.

The Office of Postsecondary Education is in the process of determining if any minor adjustments need to be made for 1997 to ensure that the NCAA's report complies with the Student Right-to-Know Act. The first IPEDS/NCAA joint data collection effort will begin January 1, 1998.