Employees in 

Postsecondary 

Institutions, Fall 2004, 

and Salaries of Full-Time 

Instructional Faculty, 

2004–05 

E.D. TAB 

U.S. Department of Education 

Institute of Education Sciences 

NCES 2006–187 

Laura G. Knapp 

Janice E. Kelly-Reid 

Roy W. Whitmore 

Burton Levine 

Seungho Huh 

RTI International 

Susan G. Broyles 

National Center for Education Statistics 

Susan G. Broyles 

Program Director 

Postsecondary Institutional 

Studies Program 

National Center for Education Statistics 

U.S. Department of Education 

Institute of Education Sciences 

NCES 2006–187 

Employees in 

Postsecondary 

Institutions, Fall 2004, 

and Salaries of Full-Time 

Instructional Faculty, 

2004–05 

E.D. TAB 

January 2006
U.S. Department of Education

Margaret Spellings 

Secretary

Institute of Education Sciences 

Grover J. Whitehurst 

Director

National Center for Education Statistics

Mark Schneider 

Commissioner

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, 

and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional 

mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of education in 

the United States; conduct and publish reports and specialized analyses of the meaning and significance 

of such statistics; assist state and local education agencies in improving their statistical systems; and 

review and report on education activities in foreign countries. 

NCES activities are designed to address high-priority education data needs; provide consistent, reliable, 

complete, and accurate indicators of education status and trends; and report timely, useful, and high 

quality data to the U.S. Department of Education, the Congress, the states, other education policymakers, 

practitioners, data users, and the general public. 

We strive to make our products available in a variety of formats and in language that is appropriate to a 

variety of audiences. You, as our customer, are the best judge of our success in communicating 

information effectively. If you have any comments or suggestions about this or any other NCES product or 

report, we would like to hear from you. Please direct your comments to: 

 National Center for Education Statistics 

 Institute of Education Sciences 

 U.S. Department of Education 

 1990 K Street NW 

 Washington, DC 20006-5651 

January 2006 

The NCES World Wide Web Home Page address is http://nces.ed.gov

The NCES World Wide Web Electronic Catalog is http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch

Suggested Citation 

Knapp, L.G., Kelly-Reid, J.E., Whitmore, R.W., Levine, B., Huh, S., and Broyles, S.G. (2006). Employees 

in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2004, and Salaries of Full-Time Instructional Faculty, 2004–05 (NCES 

2006–187). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. 

Content Contact:

Aurora D’Amico 

(202) 502-7334 

aurora.d’amico@ed.gov
iii

Foreword 

This E.D. TAB presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 

(IPEDS) Winter 2004–05 data collection, which included two required survey components: 

Employees by Assigned Position (EAP) for fall 2004 and Salaries (SA) for academic year 2004–

05; the Fall Staff (S) component was optional for fall 2004. These data were collected through 

the IPEDS web-based data collection system. 

The data on which this report is based are available to researchers and the public through the 

IPEDS Peer Analysis System, which can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds. This report 

continues a series of E.D. TABs based on the collection of data from over 6,500 postsecondary 

education institutions that participate in Title IV federal student financial aid programs. 

We hope that the information provided in the report will be useful to a wide range of interested 

readers. Further, we hope that the results reported here will encourage researchers and others to 

make full use of the IPEDS data for analysis, peer comparisons, or to help answer questions 

about postsecondary education institutions. 

Mark Schneider

 Commissioner 

National Center for Education Statistics 

C. Dennis Carroll

 Associate Commissioner 

Postsecondary Studies Division
iv
v

Acknowledgments 

The information presented in this publication was provided by either state coordinators for the 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) or officials at individual institutions. 

In addition, these persons provided much assistance in resolving questions about the data, which 

resulted in more accurate information. Although it is not possible to list the names of all these 

people, their assistance was invaluable and is much appreciated. 

The U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and the 

Office for Civil Rights, with the approval of the Office of Management and Budget, cooperate in 

the collection of racial/ethnic and gender information from all postsecondary institutions that 

participate in the Enrollment, Completions, and Fall Staff components of IPEDS. In this 

collaboration, data provided by postsecondary institutions are designated as Compliance Reports 

pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (34 CFR 100.6(b)). 

The authors are grateful to Sabrina Ratchford, Paula Knepper, and Dennis Carroll of the 

Postsecondary Studies Division of NCES for their valuable comments during the review of this 

publication. We also appreciate the thoughtful review provided by Tom Snyder, NCES; 

Claudette Kaba, Office for Civil Rights; and Darline Morris-Baldwin, Director of Institutional 

Effectiveness, Research and Planning at Texas State Technical College - Waco. At RTI 

International, in addition to the authors, Scott Ginder, Jiantong (Jean) Wang, Luhua Zhao, Kelly 

Close, James Isaac, and Joanne Studders contributed to the production of this report. 
vi
vii

Contents 

Page 

Foreword....................................................................................................................................... iii

Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................................................v

List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. viii

Introduction....................................................................................................................................1

IPEDS 2004–05 ............................................................................................................................1 

Focus of This Report.....................................................................................................................2 

Selected Findings............................................................................................................................3

Employees at Title IV Institutions................................................................................................3 

Full-time Professional Employees at Title IV Institutions ...........................................................3 

Salaries and Fringe Benefits of Full-Time Instructional Faculty .................................................3 

Appendix A: Survey Methodology .......................................................................................... A-1

Overview.................................................................................................................................. A-1 

Terminology Used in the IPEDS Web Collection................................................................... A-1 

Universe, Institutions Surveyed, and Response Rates............................................................. A-1 

Survey Procedures ................................................................................................................... A-5 

Survey Components................................................................................................................. A-6 

Employees by Assigned Position (EAP) ............................................................................. A-6 

Salaries (SA)........................................................................................................................ A-6 

Edit Procedures........................................................................................................................ A-7 

Imputation Procedures ............................................................................................................. A-8 

Employees by Assigned Position ........................................................................................ A-8 

Salaries ................................................................................................................................ A-9 

Cautionary Notes ................................................................................................................... A-12 

Data Perturbation and Confidentiality ................................................................................... A-12 

Appendix B: Glossary of IPEDS Terms...................................................................................B-1
viii

List of Tables 

Table Page 

 1. Employees at Title IV institutions, by employment status, place of employment, 

control of institution, and primary function/occupational activity: United States, 

fall 2004 ...............................................................................................................................4 

 2. Full-time professional employees at Title IV institutions, by control of institution, 

place of employment, level of institution, and faculty status: United States, fall 2004.......5 

 3. Average salaries of full-time instructional faculty at Title IV degree-granting 

institutions, by academic rank, control and level of institution, and gender: United 

States, academic year 2004–05............................................................................................6 

 4. Average fringe benefits of full-time instructional faculty at Title IV degree-granting 

institutions, by control of institution: United States, academic year 2004–05 ....................7 

 A-1. Title IV institutions responding to the IPEDS winter 2004–05 data collection, by 

survey component, degree-granting status, and level and control of institution: 

United States and other jurisdictions .............................................................................. A-3 

 A-1a. Title IV institutions responding to the IPEDS winter 2004–05 data collection, by 

survey component, degree-granting status, and level and control of institution: 

United States ................................................................................................................... A-4 

 A-2. Employees, number of employees imputed, and percentages imputed for all Title IV 

institutions, by control of institution, employment status, primary 

function/occupational activity, degree-granting status, and place of employment: 

United States, fall 2004................................................................................................. A-11 

 A-3. Salary outlays, amounts imputed, and percentages imputed for Title IV degreegranting institutions, by control of institution, contract length, gender, and academic 

rank: United States, academic year 2004–05................................................................ A-13 

 A-4. Benefit expenditures, amounts imputed, and percentages imputed for Title IV 

degree-granting institutions, by control of institution, contract length, and benefit 

type: United States, academic year 2004–05 ................................................................ A-14 

 
1

Introduction 

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is designed to collect data from 

postsecondary institutions in the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia) and other 

jurisdictions, such as Puerto Rico.1

 For IPEDS, a postsecondary institution is defined as an 

organization open to the public that has as its primary mission the provision of postsecondary 

education. IPEDS defines postsecondary education as formal instructional programs with a 

curriculum designed primarily for students who are beyond the compulsory age for high school. 

This includes academic, vocational, and continuing professional education programs and 

excludes institutions that offer only avocational (leisure) and adult basic education programs. 

Prior to the inception of IPEDS, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collected 

data from approximately 3,600 institutions of higher education through its Higher Education 

General Information Survey (HEGIS) program. HEGIS was conducted from 1966 until 1985, 

when the mission of NCES was expanded to include all postsecondary institutions. 

IPEDS 2004–05 

Participation in IPEDS was a requirement for the 6,548 institutions that participated in Title IV 

federal student financial aid programs such as Pell Grants or Stafford Loans during the 2004–05 

academic year.2

 Title IV schools include traditional colleges and universities, 2-year institutions, 

and for-profit degree- and non-degree-granting institutions (such as schools of cosmetology), 

among others. In addition, four of the U.S. service academies are included in the IPEDS universe 

as if they were Title IV institutions.3

As the fall surveys were being conducted, information was received that 9 institutions lost their 

Title IV eligibility after the cycle began; thus 6,539 institutions were eligible to participate in the 

winter 2004–05 collection. This year, the 83 administrative (central and system) offices listed in 

the IPEDS universe were not required to participate in either of the required IPEDS components: 

Employees by Assigned Position (EAP) and Salaries (SA). The EAP component was required of 

all 6,539 Title IV institutions, and 6,523, or 99.8 percent, responded. The Salaries component 

was required of all degree-granting Title IV institutions. However, institutions were not required 

to respond to the Salaries component if all instructional faculty4

 were in the military, contributed 

their services, or taught clinical or preclinical medicine because institutions with these 

 

1

 The other jurisdictions surveyed in IPEDS are American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the 

Marshall Islands, the Northern Marianas, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. 2

 Institutions participating in Title IV programs are accredited by an agency or organization recognized by the 

Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, have a program of over 300 clock hours or 8 credit hours, have been 

in business for at least 2 years, and have a signed Program Participation Agreement (PPA) with the Office of 

Postsecondary Education (OPE), U.S. Department of Education. 

3

 The four U.S. service academies that are not Title IV eligible are the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military 

Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. One academy, the U.S. Merchant 

Marine Academy, is Title IV eligible. Data for all five institutions are included in the tables and counts of 

institutions. 

4

 Instructional faculty are those members of the instruction/research staff who are employed full time and whose 

major regular assignment is instruction, including those with released time for research. Full-time instructional 

faculty also include those for whom it is not possible to differentiate among teaching, research, and public service 

because each of these functions is an integral component of their regular assignment. They are reported as 
2

characteristics would be outliers with little or no salaries, or very high salaries. For the winter 

2004–05 collection, 4,153 institutions were required to complete the Salaries component. Of 

these, 4,146, or 99.8 percent, responded. The Fall Staff component was not required.5

Focus of This Report 

Tabulations in this report present selected data items collected from, or imputed for, the 6,374 

Title IV institutions in the United States that are eligible for at least one component of the Winter 

2004-05 data collection. Data for the 165 institutions located in other jurisdictions, such as 

Puerto Rico, are not included in the tabulations in this report. Additional detailed information is 

available through the various IPEDS web tools.6 Institutions provided data about faculty and 

staff employed at Title IV participating institutions in the United States as well as salaries and 

fringe benefits of those full-time instructional faculty at Title IV degree-granting institutions in 

the United States. Degree-granting institutions are those offering associate’s, bachelor’s, 

master’s, doctor’s, and first-professional degrees. The information presented about salaries and 

fringe benefits have been adjusted. Total salary outlays for full-time faculty (by rank) on 11/12-

month contracts were adjusted to 9/10-month outlays by multiplying the outlay for 11/12-month 

contracted faculty by 0.8182. The “equated” outlays were then added to the outlays for 9/10-

month faculty to determine an average salary for each rank. Salaries for faculty on less than-9-

month contracts are not included. 

 “primarily instruction” or “instruction combined with research and/or public service” in the full-time non-medical 

school section on the Employees by Assigned Position component. 

5

 Fall Staff data are required biannually, for odd-numbered reporting years. 6

 See http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds. 
3

Selected Findings 

Employees at Title IV Institutions 

• Title IV institutions in the United States employed over 3.3 million individuals in fall 2004, 

of which, 315,000 were employed in medical schools (table 1). 

• Of the 3.3 million, nearly 2.2 million were employed full-time and about 1.2 million were 

employed part-time (table 1). 

• Public institutions employed more individuals than private institutions (table 1). Public 

institutions reported 2.2 million employees, private not-for-profit institutions reported about 

959,000 employees, and private for-profit institutions reported about 155,000 employees. 

Full-time Professional Employees at Title IV Institutions 

• About 1.2 million full-time professional employees were employed by Title IV institutions 

(except medical schools) in the United States in fall 2004 (table 2). Of those, 51 percent had 

faculty status. Among the 183,000 full-time professional employees in medical schools, 45 

percent had faculty status. 

• Considering full-time professional employees (except those in medical schools), 47 percent 

at 4-year institutions had faculty status (table 2). Likewise, 64 percent of full-time 

professional employees at 2-year institutions and 70 percent at less-than-2-year institutions 

had faculty status. 

• Considering tenure, 23 percent of full-time professional employees (except those in medical 

schools) had tenure, 10 percent were on tenure track, 10 percent were not on tenure track, 

and 8 percent were employed by institutions without a tenure system (table 2). 

Salaries and Fringe Benefits of Full-Time Instructional Faculty 

• The 2004-05 academic year salaries of full-time instructional faculty varied by academic 

rank, with faculty holding higher ranks earning higher average salaries (table 3). Considering 

adjusted 9-month average salaries1

, professors earned $87,634; associate professors earned 

$63,567; assistant professors earned $53,481, instructors earned $46,238, and lecturers 

earned $44,385. 

• In general, men earned higher average salaries than women (table 3). For example, male 

professors at 4-year public institutions earned $91,102 and female professors at 4-year public 

institutions earned $81,719 on average. The only consistent exception was private not-forprofit 2-year institutions, where women earned more than men at every academic rank. 

• The largest fringe benefit offered to full-time instructional faculty at public and private notfor-profit institutions are retirement plans; medical/dental plans are the largest benefit at 

private for-profit institutions (table 4). 

 

1

 Total salary outlays for full-time faculty (by rank) on 11/12-month contracts were adjusted to 9/10-month outlays 

by multiplying the outlay for 11/12-month contracted faculty by 0.8182. The “equated” outlays were then added to 

the outlays for 9/10-month faculty to determine an average salary for each rank. Salaries for faculty on less than-9-

month contracts are not included. 
4

Table 1. Employees at Title IV institutions, by employment status, place of employment, control of institution, 

and primary function/occupational activity: United States, fall 2004

Total Full time Part time 

Control of institution and primary 

function/occupational activity Total 

Employees 

(except 

those in 

medical 

schools)

Medical 

school 

employees Total

Employees 

(except 

those in 

medical 

schools)

Medical 

school 

employees Total 

Employees 

(except 

those in 

medical 

schools)

Medical 

school 

employees

 

Total 3,335,093 3,020,047 315,046 2,162,081 1,900,703 261,378 1,173,012 1,119,344 53,668 

Primarily instruction 951,869 926,713 25,156 427,502 407,046 20,456 524,367 519,667 4,700

Instruction/research/public service 257,954 205,172 52,782 196,419 150,570 45,849 61,535 54,602 6,933

Primarily research 46,732 32,257 14,475 38,241 25,707 12,534 8,491 6,550 1,941

Primarily public service 19,933 12,978 6,955 13,800 8,285 5,515 6,133 4,693 1,440

Executive/administrative/managerial 194,351 181,297 13,054 187,775 175,234 12,541 6,576 6,063 513

Other professional (support/service) 644,887 546,610 98,277 553,272 466,877 86,395 91,615 79,733 11,882

Graduate assistants 300,475 282,956 17,519 † † † 300,475 282,956 17,519

Technical and paraprofessionals 191,176 158,139 33,037 152,995 124,048 28,947 38,181 34,091 4,090

Clerical and secretarial 440,668 395,311 45,357 345,398 303,709 41,689 95,270 91,602 3,668

Skilled crafts 61,945 60,608 1,337 58,832 57,544 1,288 3,113 3,064 49

Service/maintenance 225,103 218,006 7,097 187,847 181,683 6,164 37,256 36,323 933

 

Public 2,221,224 2,039,986 181,238 1,399,249 1,254,651 144,598 821,975 785,335 36,640 

Primarily instruction 600,795 585,017 15,778 271,558 258,676 12,882 329,237 326,341 2,896

Instruction/research/public service 186,363 156,573 29,790 139,170 114,252 24,918 47,193 42,321 4,872

Primarily research 34,700 25,338 9,362 27,842 20,000 7,842 6,858 5,338 1,520

Primarily public service 13,565 10,840 2,725 8,881 6,772 2,109 4,684 4,068 616

Executive/administrative/managerial 94,964 89,392 5,572 92,043 86,692 5,351 2,921 2,700 221

Other professional (support/service) 424,060 363,721 60,339 361,531 309,128 52,403 62,529 54,593 7,936

Graduate assistants 244,846 231,283 13,563 † † † 244,846 231,283 13,563

Technical and paraprofessionals 136,952 121,409 15,543 107,793 94,535 13,258 29,159 26,874 2,285

Clerical and secretarial 288,653 264,010 24,643 219,322 196,801 22,521 69,331 67,209 2,122

Skilled crafts 46,190 45,605 585 44,037 43,480 557 2,153 2,125 28

Service/maintenance 150,136 146,798 3,338 127,072 124,315 2,757 23,064 22,483 581

 

Private not-for-profit 958,663 824,855 133,808 677,662 560,882 116,780 281,001 263,973 17,028 

Primarily instruction 262,463 253,085 9,378 128,903 121,329 7,574 133,560 131,756 1,804

Instruction/research/public service 68,964 45,972 22,992 56,186 35,255 20,931 12,778 10,717 2,061

Primarily research 11,995 6,882 5,113 10,365 5,673 4,692 1,630 1,209 421

Primarily public service 6,147 1,917 4,230 4,746 1,340 3,406 1,401 577 824

Executive/administrative/managerial 82,907 75,425 7,482 79,784 72,594 7,190 3,123 2,831 292

Other professional (support/service) 194,857 156,919 37,938 167,514 133,522 33,992 27,343 23,397 3,946

Graduate assistants 55,327 51,371 3,956 † † † 55,327 51,371 3,956

Technical and paraprofessionals 50,084 32,590 17,494 41,884 26,195 15,689 8,200 6,395 1,805

Clerical and secretarial 138,550 117,836 20,714 114,958 95,790 19,168 23,592 22,046 1,546

Skilled crafts 15,377 14,625 752 14,544 13,813 731 833 812 21

Service/maintenance 71,992 68,233 3,759 58,778 55,371 3,407 13,214 12,862 352

 

Private for-profit 155,206 155,206 † 85,170 85,170 † 70,036 70,036 † 

Primarily instruction 88,611 88,611 † 27,041 27,041 † 61,570 61,570 †

Instruction/research/public service 2,627 2,627 † 1,063 1,063 † 1,564 1,564 †

Primarily research 37 37 † 34 34 † 3 3 †

Primarily public service 221 221 † 173 173 † 48 48 †

Executive/administrative/managerial 16,480 16,480 † 15,948 15,948 † 532 532 †

Other professional (support/service) 25,970 25,970 † 24,227 24,227 † 1,743 1,743 †

Graduate assistants 302 302 † † † † 302 302 †

Technical and paraprofessionals 4,140 4,140 † 3,318 3,318 † 822 822 †

Clerical and secretarial 13,465 13,465 † 11,118 11,118 † 2,347 2,347 †

Skilled crafts 378 378 † 251 251 † 127 127 †

Service/maintenance 2,975 2,975 † 1,997 1,997 † 978 978 †

† Not applicable. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 

2004–05, Employees by Assigned Position component. 
5

Table 2. Full-time professional employees at Title IV institutions, by control of institution, place 

of employment, level of institution, and faculty status: United States, fall 2004 

Number Percent 

Place of employment, level of 

institution, and faculty status Total Public 

Private 

not-forprofit 

Private 

forprofit Total Public 

Private 

not-forprofit 

Private 

forprofit 

 

Employees (except those in 

medical schools) 1,233,719 795,520 369,713 68,486 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 

 

With faculty status 623,890 422,542 168,481 32,867 50.6 53.1 45.6 48.0 

With tenure 282,758 206,420 73,125 3,213 22.9 25.9 19.8 4.7 

On tenure track 117,254 81,468 35,558 228 9.5 10.2 9.6 0.3 

Not on tenure track 127,672 91,596 35,904 172 10.3 11.5 9.7 0.3 

No tenure system 96,206 43,058 23,894 29,254 7.8 5.4 6.5 42.7 

Without faculty status 609,829 372,978 201,232 35,619 49.4 46.9 54.4 52.0 

 

4-year 997,916 606,047 363,157 28,712 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 

With faculty status 472,242 298,933 164,470 8,839 47.3 49.3 45.3 30.8 

With tenure 227,421 154,378 72,861 182 22.8 25.5 20.1 0.6 

On tenure track 99,233 63,717 35,440 76 9.9 10.5 9.8 0.3 

Not on tenure track 115,272 79,435 35,769 68 11.6 13.1 9.8 0.2 

No tenure system 30,316 1,403 20,400 8,513 3.0 0.2 5.6 29.6 

Without faculty status 525,674 307,114 198,687 19,873 52.7 50.7 54.7 69.2 

 

2-year 211,593 183,816 5,351 22,426 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 

With faculty status 134,589 118,798 3,262 12,529 63.6 64.6 61.0 55.9 

With tenure 51,502 49,855 195 1,452 24.3 27.1 3.6 6.5 

On tenure track 17,200 17,028 110 62 8.1 9.3 2.1 0.3 

Not on tenure track 11,894 11,677 135 82 5.6 6.4 2.5 0.4 

No tenure system 53,993 40,238 2,822 10,933 25.5 21.9 52.7 48.8 

Without faculty status 77,004 65,018 2,089 9,897 36.4 35.4 39.0 44.1 

 

Less-than-2-year 24,210 5,657 1,205 17,348 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 

With faculty status 17,059 4,811 749 11,499 70.5 85.0 62.2 66.3 

With tenure 3,835 2,187 69 1,579 15.8 38.7 5.7 9.1 

On tenure track 821 723 8 90 3.4 12.8 0.7 0.5 

Not on tenure track 506 484 0 22 2.1 8.6 0.0 0.1 

No tenure system 11,897 1,417 672 9,808 49.1 25.0 55.8 56.5 

Without faculty status 7,151 846 456 5,849 29.5 15.0 37.8 33.7 

 

 Medical school employees1

 183,290 105,505 77,785 † 100.0 100.0 100.0 † 

 

With faculty status 82,862 48,282 34,580 † 45.2 45.8 44.5 † 

With tenure 20,771 13,202 7,569 † 11.3 12.5 9.7 † 

On tenure track 15,832 6,694 9,138 † 8.6 6.3 11.7 † 

Not on tenure track 45,813 28,386 17,427 † 25.0 26.9 22.4 † 

No tenure system 446 0 446 † 0.2 0.0 0.6 † 

Without faculty status 100,428 57,223 43,205 † 54.8 54.2 55.5 † 

† Not applicable. 

1

 Medical schools are defined as those offering the M.D. degree only. 

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Professional employees include those employees in the following 

positions: primarily instruction, instruction combined with research and/or public service, primarily research, primarily public 

service, executive/administrative/managerial, and other professional (support/service). 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data 

System (IPEDS), Winter 2004–05, Employees by Assigned Position component. 
6

Table 3. Average salaries of full-time instructional faculty at Title IV degree-granting institutions, 

by academic rank, control and level of institution, and gender: United States, academic 

year 2004–05

Control and level of 

institution, and gender All ranks Professor

Associate 

professor

Assistant 

professor Instructor Lecturer 

No academic 

rank1

 

Adjusted 9-month 

average salaries2 $63,062 $87,634 $63,567 $53,481 $46,238 $44,385 $48,185

 

Public 62,404 85,341 63,312 53,399 49,930 43,358 48,391

4-year 66,548 89,001 64,921 54,523 39,176 43,235 45,228

Men 71,748 91,102 66,598 56,422 40,006 45,221 46,988

Women 57,931 81,719 62,187 52,265 38,613 41,521 43,552

2-year 52,918 63,473 53,006 46,826 53,856 45,367 48,928

Men 54,189 65,264 53,931 47,498 54,853 48,929 49,971

Women 51,729 61,451 52,160 46,255 52,935 41,940 47,977

 

Private not-for-profit 67,465 92,903 64,319 53,738 40,165 48,220 50,830

4-year 67,824 93,024 64,423 53,833 40,452 48,243 51,397

Men 73,140 95,815 66,172 55,671 40,352 51,519 53,841

Women 59,404 84,275 61,747 51,848 40,534 45,296 48,140

2-year 38,290 44,723 41,077 34,635 37,421 46,578 37,815

Men 36,972 44,352 39,267 32,722 37,346 41,981 33,048

Women 39,514 45,032 42,141 35,680 37,507 48,477 43,310

 

Private for-profit 34,408 48,247 43,596 40,804 32,184 30,748 37,128

4-year 39,038 52,051 45,196 42,474 35,833 44,572 39,374

Men 39,550 52,512 45,380 43,176 36,553 † 38,486

Women 38,108 50,859 44,729 41,460 34,529 44,572 40,709

2-year 29,832 31,391 30,566 32,197 29,824 29,827 28,915

Men 31,414 31,858 32,467 33,113 31,467 31,431 29,614

Women 27,927 30,125 28,603 31,390 27,823 27,185 28,385

† Not applicable. 

1 Includes faculty at institutions without standard academic ranks. 

2 Total salary outlays for full-time faculty (by rank) on 11/12-month contracts were adjusted to 9/10-month outlays by multiplying the 

outlay for 11/12-month contracted faculty by 0.8182. The “equated” outlays were then added to the outlays for 9/10-month faculty to 

determine an average salary for each rank. Salaries for faculty on less than-9-month contracts are not included. 

NOTE: Full-time instructional faculty are those members of the instruction/research staff who are employed full time and whose 

major regular assignment is instruction, including those with released time for research. Full-time instructional faculty also include 

full-time faculty for whom it is not possible to differentiate among teaching, research, and public service because each of these 

functions is an integral component of their regular assignment. Does not include faculty at institutions where all instructional faculty 

teach preclinical or clinical medicine. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data 

System (IPEDS), Winter 2004–05, Salaries component. 
7

Table 4. Average fringe benefits of full-time instructional faculty at Title IV degreegranting institutions, by control of institution: United States, academic year 

2004–05

Adjusted 9-month average fringe benefits1

 Total Public

Private not-forprofit Private for-profit

 

Retirement plan (vested within 5 years)2 $6,325 $6,333 $6,478 $1,317

Retirement plan (vested after 5 years)2

 5,561 5,767 4,004 1,651

Medical/dental plans 6,069 6,308 5,712 3,315

Group life insurance 208 191 220 416

Other insurance benefits 911 952 884 504

Guaranteed disability income protection 281 279 278 375

Tuition plan (dependents only) 3,922 1,291 7,133 3,095

Housing plan 4,503 3,744 4,882 †

Social Security taxes 4,240 4,132 4,634 2,520

Unemployment compensation 238 199 298 563

Worker’s compensation 481 471 500 497

Other benefits in kind with cash options 1,625 1,732 1,506 887

† Not applicable. 

1 Average amounts for 11/12-month contracts were adjusted to 9-month averages by multiplying the average 11/12-

month amount by 0.8182. 

2 The retirement plan does not include Social Security. 

NOTE: Full-time instructional faculty are those members of the instruction/research staff who are employed full time and 

whose major regular assignment is instruction, including those with released time for research. Full-time instructional 

faculty also include full-time faculty for whom it is not possible to differentiate among teaching, research, and public 

service because each of these functions is an integral component of their regular assignment. Does not include faculty at 

institutions where all instructional faculty teach preclinical or clinical medicine. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education 

Data System (IPEDS), Winter 2004–05, Salaries component. 
8
A-1

Appendix A: 

Survey Methodology 

Overview 

IPEDS defines a postsecondary institution as an organization that is open to the public and has a 

primary mission of providing education or training beyond the high school level. The primary 

focus of the IPEDS winter 2004–05 data collection was to collect data from Title IV institutions. 

These institutions have Program Participation Agreements (PPAs) with the Office of 

Postsecondary Education (OPE) within the U.S. Department of Education and thus are eligible to 

participate in Title IV student financial aid programs. There were 6,631 Title IV entities1

 located 

in the United States and the other jurisdictions2

 of the United States, such as Puerto Rico, at the 

beginning of the 2004–05 academic year. Nine institutions lost Title IV eligibility before the 

winter 2004-05 data collection began, leaving 6,539 institutions and 83 administrative offices. 

IPEDS began collecting data from all postsecondary institutions in 1986, when it superseded the 

Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), which was directed at institutions of 

higher education only. HEGIS data were collected from 1966 through 1985. In 1992, the focus of 

IPEDS became the Title IV institutions, when the Higher Education Amendments made IPEDS 

mandatory for these institutions. In 2000, IPEDS implemented a web-based data collection 

system with the capability of tailoring data collections screens to each institution. Edits were also 

built into the system to give immediate feedback to the institutions when problems were 

detected. This system has allowed for earlier release of data to institutions and the public. 

For winter 2004–05, institutions in the universe were asked to enter their survey responses using 

the IPEDS data collection website. The winter 2004–05 IPEDS data were collected between 

December 1, 2004, and January 26, 2005. The collection had two required components: 

Employees by Assigned Position (EAP) and Salaries (SA); and one optional component: Fall 

Staff (S). Copies of the data collection instruments are available at 

http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/web2000/WinterDataItems.asp. 

Terminology Used in the IPEDS Web Collection 

Please refer to the Glossary provided in appendix B for definitions of various terms. 

Universe, Institutions Surveyed, and Response Rates 

Each year, the IPEDS universe is established during the fall collection period. For the 2004–05 

cycle, 30 institutions included in prior IPEDS data collections were declared to be outside the 

scope of IPEDS. This happened because they were closed or were merged with another 

 

1

 Includes 6,548 institutions and 83 administrative offices (central or system offices). The administrative offices are 

required to complete the Institutional Characteristics component in the fall and the Finance component in the spring 

(if they have their own separate budget). Also includes the U.S. service academies. 2

 The other jurisdictions surveyed in IPEDS are American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the 

Marshall Islands, the Northern Marianas, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. 
A-2

institution. Furthermore, another 136 institutions included separately in prior IPEDS data 

collections were reclassified and are now reported by a parent institution. In addition, 182 

institutions were added to the universe. These schools were identified from several sources, 

including a universe review by state coordinators, a review of the data file maintained by OPE, 

and information provided by the institutions themselves. 

The full set of 6,631 Title IV entities was validated by matching the IPEDS universe file with 

OPE’s Postsecondary Education Participation System (PEPS) file. Because most of the studies 

that use IPEDS data concentrate on the Title IV institutions, this group is the main focus of 

IPEDS. Federal regulations mandate that as a condition of continued participation in the federal 

student aid programs, all institutions must complete, in a timely manner and to the satisfaction of 

the Secretary, all required components conducted as a part of the IPEDS. (See Section 487(a)(17) 

of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1094(a)(17) and 34 C.F.R. 

§ 668.14 (b)(19).) Non–Title IV institutions are not required to respond to IPEDS but are 

encouraged to provide data. 

The IPEDS database includes institutions that do not participate in Title IV financial aid 

programs. These institutions are invited to participate in the IPEDS program, and if they 

voluntarily respond to the surveys, the institutions are included in College Opportunities On-Line 

(IPEDS COOL). IPEDS COOL is a website developed to help parents and students make 

informed decisions about postsecondary education. 

Not all Title IV institutions are required to complete all parts of the winter data collection. Nine 

institutions were not required to complete the EAP component because they closed during the 

collection year. The Salaries component was required of degree-granting institutions only. In 

addition, institutions are not required to respond to the Salaries component if all of their faculty 

fall into one of four exclusionary categories (all are part-time, are in the military, contribute their 

services, or teach clinical or preclinical medicine). Of the 6,548 Title IV institutions eligible for 

the 2004–05 IPEDS collection, 6,539 institutions were eligible (9 had closed) for the EAP 

component and 4,153 institutions were eligible for the Salaries component. 

Table A-1 provides the number of Title IV institutions and the survey response rates by degreegranting status and by level and control of institution for the United States and other jurisdictions 

for the two surveys that were required in winter 2004–05. Because Title IV institutions are the 

primary focus of IPEDS and they are required to respond, response rates for Title IV institutions 

in the winter 2004–05 IPEDS collection were quite high. The response rate in winter 2004–05 

for each of the two required components was 99.8 percent. 

Table A-1a provides the number of Title IV institutions and the survey response rates by degreegranting status and by level and control of institution for those institutions located in the United 

States only. 

NCES requires that the potential for nonresponse bias for all institutions (including those in the 

other jurisdictions) be analyzed for sectors for which the response rate was less than 90 percent. 

As shown in table A-1, no sectors require this analysis. 
A-3

Table A-1. Title IV institutions responding to the IPEDS winter 2004–05 data collection, by 

survey component, degree-granting status, and level and control of institution: United 

States and other jurisdictions

Employees by Assigned Position Salaries 

Degree-granting status and 

level and control of institution Final universe

Number 

responded

Response 

rate (%) Final universe

Number 

responded 

Response 

rate (%)

All institutions 6,539 6,523 99.8 4,153 4,146 99.8

Public 2,055 2,052 99.9 1,718 1,716 99.9

Private not-for-profit 1,922 1,917 99.7 1,619 1,615 99.8

Private for-profit 2,562 2,554 99.7 816 815 99.9

4-year 2,613 2,609 99.8 2,497 2,492 99.8

Public 658 656 99.7 650 648 99.7

Private not-for-profit 1,579 1,577 99.9 1,507 1,504 99.8

Private for-profit 376 376 100.0 340 340 100.0

2-year 2,185 2,181 99.8 1,656 1,654 99.9

Public 1,153 1,153 100.0 1,068 1,068 100.0

Private not-for-profit 227 224 98.7 112 111 99.1

Private for-profit 805 804 99.9 476 475 99.8

Less-than-2-year 1,741 1,733 99.5 † † †

Public 244 243 99.6 † † †

Private not-for-profit 116 116 100.0 † † †

Private for-profit 1,381 1,374 99.5 † † †

Degree-granting 4,302 4,296 99.9 4,153 4,146 99.8

4-year 2,593 2,589 99.8 2,497 2,492 99.8

Public 657 655 99.7 650 648 99.7

Private not-for-profit 1,561 1,559 99.9 1,507 1,504 99.8

Private for-profit 375 375 100.0 340 340 100.0

2-year 1,709 1,707 99.9 1,656 1,654 99.9

Public 1,071 1,071 100.0 1,068 1,068 100.0

Private not-for-profit 116 114 98.3 112 111 99.1

Private for-profit 522 522 100.0 476 475 99.8

Non-degree-granting 2,237 2,227 99.6 † † †

4-year1

 20 20 100.0 † † †

Public 1 1 100.0 † † †

Private not-for-profit 18 18 100.0 † † †

Private for-profit 1 1 100.0 † † †

2-year 476 474 99.6 † † †

Public 82 82 100.0 † † †

Private not-for-profit 111 110 99.1 † † †

Private for-profit 283 282 99.6 † † †

Less-than-2-year 1,741 1,733 99.5 † † †

Public 244 243 99.6 † † †

Private not-for-profit 116 116 100.0 † † †

Private for-profit 1,381 1,374 99.5 † † †

† Not applicable. 

1 These institutions grant certificates at the postbaccalaureate and post-master’s levels; they do not award degrees. 

NOTE: The Employees by Assigned Position component was applicable to all institutions, but not to administrative offices. The 

Salaries component was applicable to all degree-granting institutions except for those institutions at which all instructional faculty 

are part time, contribute their services, are in the military, or teach clinical or preclinical medicine. The Salaries component was not 

applicable to administrative offices. The other jurisdictions include American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the 

Marshall Islands, the Northern Marianas, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data 

System (IPEDS), Winter 2004–05. 
A-4

Table A-1a. Title IV institutions responding to the IPEDS winter 2004–05 data collection, by survey 

component, degree-granting status, and level and control of institution: United States 

Employees by Assigned Position Salaries 

Degree-granting status and 

level and control of institution Final universe

Number 

responded

Response 

rate (%) Final universe

Number 

responded 

Response 

rate (%)

All institutions 6,374 6,358 99.7 4,065 4,058 99.8

Public 2,026 2,023 99.9 1,689 1,687 99.9

Private not-for-profit 1,872 1,867 99.7 1,579 1,575 99.7

Private for-profit 2,476 2,468 99.7 797 796 99.9

4-year 2,551 2,547 99.8 2,436 2,431 99.8

Public 640 638 99.7 632 630 99.7

Private not-for-profit 1,542 1,540 99.9 1,471 1,468 99.8

Private for-profit 369 369 100.0 333 333 100.0

2-year 2,156 2,152 99.8 1,629 1,627 99.9

Public 1,142 1,142 100.0 1,057 1,057 100.0

Private not-for-profit 223 220 98.7 108 107 99.1

Private for-profit 791 790 99.9 464 463 99.8

Less-than-2-year 1,667 1,659 99.5 † † †

Public 244 243 99.6 † † †

Private not-for-profit 107 107 100.0 † † †

Private for-profit 1,316 1,309 99.5 † † †

Degree-granting 4,212 4,206 99.9 4,065 4,058 99.8

4-year 2,531 2,527 99.8 2,436 2,431 99.8

Public 639 637 99.7 632 630 99.7

Private not-for-profit 1,524 1,522 99.9 1,471 1,468 99.8

Private for-profit 368 368 100.0 333 333 100.0

2-year 1,681 1,679 99.9 1,629 1,627 99.9

Public 1,060 1,060 100.0 1,057 1,057 100.0

Private not-for-profit 112 110 98.2 108 107 99.1

Private for-profit 509 509 100.0 464 463 99.8

Non-degree-granting 2,162 2,152 99.5 † † †

4-year1

 20 20 100.0 † † †

Public 1 1 100.0 † † †

Private not-for-profit 18 18 100.0 † † †

Private for-profit 1 1 100.0 † † †

2-year 475 473 99.6 † † †

Public 82 82 100.0 † † †

Private not-for-profit 111 110 99.1 † † †

Private for-profit 282 281 99.6 † † †

Less-than-2-year 1,667 1,659 99.5 † † †

Public 244 243 99.6 † † †

Private not-for-profit 107 107 100.0 † † †

Private for-profit 1,316 1,309 99.5 † † †

† Not applicable. 

1 These institutions grant certificates only at the post-baccalaureate, post-master’s, and post-doctorate levels. 

NOTE: The Employees by Assigned Position component was applicable to all institutions, but not to administrative offices. The 

Salaries component was applicable to all degree-granting institutions except for those institutions at which all instructional faculty 

are part time, contribute their services, are in the military, or teach clinical or preclinical medicine. The Salaries component was not 

applicable to administrative offices. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data 

System (IPEDS), Winter 2004–05. 
A-5

Survey Procedures 

The winter 2004–05 IPEDS data collection was conducted using the IPEDS web-based data 

collection system. Each institution appointed a keyholder, who was the person responsible for 

ensuring that survey data submitted by the institution were correct. The keyholder could generate 

UserIDs and passwords for up to six additional survey respondents who could also enter or 

review data. For many institutions, keyholders were also required to edit and “lock” the data; 

locking is equivalent to submitting completed data to NCES. 

Coordinators are individuals who take responsibility for a specified group of institutions to 

ensure that all data were entered correctly. Some coordinators may be responsible for a system of 

institutions (e.g., SUNY—the State University of New York); others may coordinate all or some 

institutions in a state. Also, coordinators may elect to provide different levels of review. For 

example, some may only view data provided by their institutions, while others may upload, 

review, or lock data for their institutions. 

For the 2004–05 IPEDS data collections, keyholders were asked to register prior to the fall 2004 

data collection. Registration information, including UserIDs and passwords, was e-mailed to 

existing keyholders in mid-July. Also in mid-July, letters were sent to chief executive officers 

(CEOs) at institutions without preregistered keyholders, requesting that they appoint a keyholder 

for the 2004–05 collection year. The package included a letter for the keyholder and a 

registration certificate with the institution’s UserID and password for the entire 2004–05 

collection period. Subsequent registration mailings were sent to CEOs of institutions at which a 

keyholder had still not been registered, in mid-August, mid-September, mid-December, and midMarch. At the beginning of the winter and spring collections, in late November and early March, 

respectively, e-mail messages were sent to registered keyholders and coordinators requesting that 

they update or confirm their registration contact information when the collections opened. 

Schools were allowed to designate a new keyholder at any time during the collection year, if 

needed. As with previous IPEDS studies, followup for nonresponse was conducted with CEOs, 

coordinators, and keyholders via mail, e-mail, and telephone throughout all three collection 

periods. 

The web-based survey instruments offered many features designed to improve the quality and 

timeliness of the data. As indicated above, survey respondents were required to register before 

entering 2004–05 data to ensure a point of contact between NCES/IPEDS and the institution. 

Online data entry forms were tailored to each institution based on characteristics such as degreegranting status and presence of a medical school. When data from previous years were available 

for an institution, they were preloaded on the customized forms for easy reference and 

comparison purposes. Once the 2004–05 data were entered, either manually or through file 

upload, the keyholders were required to run edit checks and resolve all errors before they were 

able to lock their data. Once data were locked, they were considered “submitted,” regardless of 

whether or not the coordinator had reviewed the submission. 

Once the data were complete and all locks were applied, IPEDS help desk staff conducted a final 

review. If any additional problems were detected, the help desk staff contacted the institutions to 

resolve any remaining questions. Once all problems were resolved, the final data were migrated 
A-6

to the Peer Analysis System, where they were made available to other responding institutions for 

comparison purposes. Because of confidentiality issues, Salaries and (optional) Fall Staff data 

were perturbed during the migration process to protect any individually identifiable information. 

Survey Components 

Employees by Assigned Position (EAP) 

This component of the web-based survey was required for all Title IV institutions for winter 

2004–05. The EAP survey is used to categorize all employees on the institution’s payroll as of 

November 1 of the collection year, by employment status (full or part time), faculty status, and 

primary function/occupational activity (assigned position). Title IV institutions that have medical 

schools are required to report their medical school employees separately. 

The primary functions/occupational activities are faculty (primarily instruction, instruction 

combined with research and/or public service, primarily research, and primarily public service), 

executive/administrative/managerial, graduate assistants, other professional (support/service), 

technical and paraprofessionals, clerical and secretarial, skilled crafts, and service/maintenance. 

If, by institutional definition, an employee has faculty status, the employee is categorized 

according to tenure status: with tenure, on tenure track, or not on tenure track/no tenure system. 

If the employee does not have faculty status, he or she is counted as “without faculty status.” 

All full-time instructional faculty classified in the EAP component as either (1) primarily 

instruction or (2) instruction combined with research and/or public service are included in the 

Salaries component, unless they are exempted because of one of the exclusions noted in the 

description of the Salaries component. Full-time instructional faculty in medical schools are not 

included in the Salaries component because they all teach preclinical or clinical medicine, 

regardless of whether they teach other courses. 

Cautionary Note: In previous collections, all 4-year institutions were given the opportunity to 

report employees in medical schools. However, some institutions that did not have a medical 

school erroneously reported employees in this section of the EAP. For the winter 2004–05 

collection, IPEDS limited the collection of data on employees in medical schools to those with 

an MD program based on information provided in the Institutional Characteristics component of 

the fall IPEDS collection. This change may cause some discrepancies when comparing medical 

school data from the 2004–05 IPEDS collection with earlier IPEDS collections. 

Salaries (SA) 

This component of the web-based survey collects data on full-time instructional faculty—that is, 

those classified as either primarily instruction or instruction combined with research and/or 

public service (except those in medical schools, as described above). The data are current as of 

November 1 of the collection year and include all full-time instructional faculty on the payroll. 

This component is applicable to all degree-granting institutions. However, the Salaries 

component is not applicable (institutions are not asked to respond) if any of the following 

conditions apply: 
A-7

• All instructional faculty are employed on a part-time basis. 

• All instructional faculty are military personnel. 

• All instructional faculty contribute their services. 

• All instructional faculty teach preclinical or clinical medicine. 

Part A of the Salaries component collects data on the number of full-time instructional faculty 

and the total salary outlay, by contract length (less-than-9-month, 9/10-month, 11/12-month) and 

by gender and academic rank (professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, 

lecturer, no academic rank). Part B collects data on the fringe benefit expenditures and the 

number of full-time instructional faculty on 9/10-month and 11/12-month contracts covered by 

these benefits. Types of fringe benefits included are retirement plans, medical/dental plans, 

group life insurance, other insurance benefits, guaranteed disability income protection, tuition 

plan, housing plan, employer portion of social security taxes, unemployment compensation, 

worker’s compensation, and other benefits in kind with cash options. 

Note: The tables included in this ED TAB use “equated” or “adjusted” faculty salaries (salaries 

equated to 9-month contracts). Total salary outlays for full-time faculty (by rank) on 11/12-

month contracts were adjusted to 9/10-month outlays by multiplying the outlay for 11/12-month 

contracted faculty by 0.8182. The “equated” outlays were then added to the outlays for 9/10-

month faculty to determine an average salary for each rank. Salaries for faculty on less than-9-

month contracts are not included. 

Edit Procedures 

Edit checks were built into the web-based instrument to detect major reporting errors. The 

system automatically generated average salaries or totals for each component (as required), and 

edit checks compared current responses to previously reported data. The edit checks could be run 

at any time during the collection. As edit checks were executed, survey respondents were 

allowed to correct any errors detected by the system. If data were entered correctly but failed the 

edit checks, the survey respondents were asked either to confirm that the data were correct as 

entered or to explain why the data appeared to be out of the expected data range. All edit checks 

had to be resolved (confirmed, explained, or corrected) before the survey could be locked. 

Survey respondents were also provided with one or more caveats boxes for each survey 

component and were encouraged to use this area to explain any special circumstances that might 

not be evident in their reported data. In addition, the data were manually reviewed for additional 

inconsistencies by coordinators (when applicable) and the IPEDS help desk staff. When 

necessary, keyholders were contacted to verify the accuracy of the data. 

For both components, current year data were compared to the previous year’s data and large 

discrepancies had to be explained. In addition, for the Salaries component, average salaries were 

calculated, and checks were in place for unusually high or unusually low averages. The number 

of faculty receiving fringe benefits could not exceed the total number of faculty on contract. The 

number of full-time instructional faculty in the Salaries component had to be equal to the number 

of full-time, non-medical school, faculty reported as either primarily instruction or instruction 
A-8

combined with research and/or public service in the EAP and less than or equal to the number of 

full-time faculty in the Fall Staff component (if completed). 

Imputation Procedures 

The EAP data and Salaries data for Title IV institutions were subject to imputation for 

nonresponse—both total (institutional) nonresponse and partial (item) nonresponse. The 

imputation base was restricted to institutions satisfying the following conditions: 

• The institution must participate in Title IV student financial aid programs. 

• The institution must be currently active3 in IPEDS.

• The institution must not be a child4

 institution.

• For the Salaries component, the institution must be a degree-granting institution. 

• For the Salaries component, the institution’s instructional faculty must not fall into one of the 

following categories: 

o All instructional faculty are employed on a part-time basis. 

o All instructional faculty contribute their services. 

o All instructional faculty are military personnel. 

o All instructional faculty teach preclinical or clinical medicine. 

For the EAP component, there were 54 imputation groups to be used as needed to impute data 

for institutions with similar characteristics. The imputation groups were formed based primarily 

on institutional sector, undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional offerings. 

For the Salaries component, both Part A and Part B of the survey form were subject to 

imputation. Twenty-nine imputation groups were formed based primarily on institutional sector, 

undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional offerings to be used as needed to impute data. 

Employees by Assigned Position 

The following imputation methods5

 were used to impute missing data in the EAP component of 

the data collection: 

• Carry Forward—Reported prior year EAP data were carried forward to the current year. The 

number of employees reported in the prior year was used as the base value for the 

imputation. For each combination of full-time/part-time and medical school/non-medicalschool, to adjust for year-to-year change, the base value was then multiplied by the median 

ratio of the total staff reported in the current year to those reported in the prior year, within 

the imputation group. 

 

3

 Institutions that did not respond were verified as currently active (open for business) prior to imputation through 

telephone calls or e-mail. 

4

 A child is one that has all of its data reported by another institution referred to as a parent. 5

 Imputation methods are listed in order of preferred usage. If data are not available for application of one method, 

the next method is used. 
A-9

• Nearest Neighbor—The current year Salaries data or the previous year Fall Enrollment data 

were used to determine the distance between an imputee and a potential donor. A distance 

was defined depending on the survey used. For the Salaries component, the distance measure 

was the sum of employees over the three different contract lengths. For the Fall Enrollment 

component, the distance measure was full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment, defined as (1/3 

× part-time students) + (full-time students). Salaries survey data were considered first, and 

then fall enrollment data were considered. Each nearest neighbor imputee was imputed with 

the EAP data from the donor in the same imputation group with the nearest value of the 

distance measure. The donor’s data values were multiplied by the ratio of the imputee’s 

distance measure to the donor’s distance measure. 

• Group Median—If insufficient prior year data were available to perform any of the 

previously described methods, the group median method was used. For each imputation 

group, the sum of all full-time staff and one-third of the part-time staff was calculated for 

each institution. The institution with the median value of this measure within each imputation 

group was the donor institution. 

Salaries 

The following imputation methods6

 were used to impute missing data in the Salaries component 

of the survey: 

• Carry Forward—Reported prior year Salaries data were carried forward to the current year. 

The values were then multiplied by a year-to-year adjustment for employee count and by an 

inflation adjustment for average salaries, each from within the imputation group. Salary 

outlays were then calculated as the product of employee count and average salaries. 

• Nearest Neighbor EAP—Data from a nearest neighbor of the imputee based on the current 

year EAP data within the imputation group were used as the imputed values. In the full-time, 

non-medical-school category of the EAP dataset, the sum of employees for primarily 

instruction and instruction combined with research and/or public service was used in defining 

the distance measure. An imputee/donor total instructional faculty adjustment was made to 

the imputed values. Since most medical schools are exempted from the Salaries component, 

the medical school category of the EAP dataset is not used. 

• Nearest Neighbor Fall Staff (S)—Data from a nearest neighbor of the imputee based on the 

current year Fall Staff data within the imputation group were used as the imputed values. The 

number of faculty reported in Part A of the Fall Staff data was used in defining the distance 

measure. An imputee/donor total full-time faculty adjustment was made to the imputed 

values. 

• Nearest Neighbor FTE—Data from a nearest neighbor of the imputee based on previous 

years’ FTE enrollment values within the imputation group were used as the imputed values. 

An imputee/donor FTE adjustment was made to the imputed values. 

• Group Median—For each institution, the sum of total salary outlays over all contract lengths 

was calculated and ranked within each imputation group. The institution with the median 

 

6

 Imputation methods are listed in order of preferred usage. If data are not available for application of one method, 

the next method is used. 
A-10

rank was the donor institution. The donor’s values are assigned to the imputee with no 

adjustments. 

For the EAP component, table A-2 provides information on the total number of employees and 

the number and percentages of employees that were imputed for all Title IV institutions in the 

United States, by control of institution, employment status, primary function/occupational 

activity, degree-granting status, and place of employment. 
A-11

Table A-2. Employees, number of employees imputed, and percentages imputed for all Title IV institutions, by 

control of institution, employment status, primary function/occupational activity, degree-granting status, 

and place of employment: United States, fall 2004 

Total Public Private not-for-profit Private for-profit 

Imputed Imputed Imputed Imputed 

Employment status, primary 

function/occupational activity, 

degree-granting status, and 

place of employment Employees Number Percent Employees Number Percent Employees Number Percent Employees Number Percent

Employees 3,335,093 1,556 # 2,221,224 1,224 0.1 958,663 229 # 155,206 103 0.1

 

Full-time employees 2,162,081 928 # 1,399,249 700 0.1 677,662 143 # 85,170 85 0.1

Primarily instruction 427,502 354 0.1 271,558 201 0.1 128,903 100 0.1 27,041 53 0.2

Instruction/research/public 

service 196,419 174 0.1 139,170 174 0.1 56,186 0 0.0 1,063 0 0.0

Primarily research 38,241 0 0.0 27,842 0 0.0 10,365 0 0.0 34 0 0.0

Primarily public service 13,800 0 0.0 8,881 0 0.0 4,746 0 0.0 173 0 0.0

Executive/administrative/ 

managerial 187,775 152 0.1 92,043 78 0.1 79,784 43 0.1 15,948 31 0.2

Other professional 

(support/service) 553,272 51 # 361,531 50 # 167,514 0 0.0 24,227 1 #

Technical and 

paraprofessionals 152,995 26 # 107,793 26 # 41,884 0 0.0 3,318 0 0.0

Clerical and secretarial 345,398 62 # 219,322 62 # 114,958 0 0.0 11,118 0 0.0

Skilled crafts 58,832 20 # 44,037 20 # 14,544 0 0.0 251 0 0.0

Service/maintenance 187,847 89 # 127,072 89 0.1 58,778 0 0.0 1,997 0 0.0

 

Part-time employees 1,173,012 628 0.1 821,975 524 0.1 281,001 86 # 70,036 18 #

Primarily instruction 524,367 88 # 329,237 0 0.0 133,560 77 0.1 61,570 11 #

Instruction/research/public 

service 61,535 283 0.5 47,193 272 0.6 12,778 9 0.1 1,564 2 0.1

Primarily research 8,491 0 0.0 6,858 0 0.0 1,630 0 0.0 3 0 0.0

Primarily public service 6,133 0 0.0 4,684 0 0.0 1,401 0 0.0 48 0 0.0

Executive/administrative/ 

managerial 6,576 2 # 2,921 0 0.0 3,123 0 0.0 532 2 0.4

Other professional 

(support/service) 91,615 53 0.1 62,529 50 0.1 27,343 0 0.0 1,743 3 0.2

Graduate assistants 300,475 0 0.0 244,846 0 0.0 55,327 0 0.0 302 0 0.0

Technical and 

paraprofessionals 38,181 5 # 29,159 5 # 8,200 0 0.0 822 0 0.0

Clerical and secretarial 95,270 197 0.2 69,331 197 0.3 23,592 0 0.0 2,347 0 0.0

Skilled crafts 3,113 0 0.0 2,153 0 0.0 833 0 0.0 127 0 0.0

Service/maintenance 37,256 0 0.0 23,064 0 0.0 13,214 0 0.0 978 0 0.0

 

Degree-granting 3,268,028 1,413 # 2,194,295 1,207 0.1 953,259 206 # 120,474 0 0.0

Non-degree-granting 67,065 143 0.2 26,929 17 0.1 5,404 23 0.4 34,732 103 0.3

 

Employees (except those in 

medical schools) 3,020,047 1,556 0.1 2,039,986 1,224 0.1 824,855 229 # 155,206 103 0.1

Medical school employees 315,046 0 0.0 181,238 0 0.0 133,808 0 0.0 † † †

† Not applicable. 

# Rounds to zero. 

NOTE: Table is restricted to U.S. institutions only. For institutions in other jurisdictions, no employees were imputed. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 

2004–05, Employees by Assigned Position component. 
A-12

For the Salaries component, table A-3 provides the total salary outlays and the amounts and 

percentages that were imputed for Title IV degree-granting institutions in the United States, by 

control of institution, contract length, gender, and academic rank. Table A-4 provides the total 

benefit expenditures and the amounts and percentages that were imputed for Title IV degreegranting institutions in the United States, by control of institution, contract length, and benefit 

type. 

Cautionary Notes 

The data in this publication should be used with caution. Certain institutions do not respond to 

the Salaries component (see list of exclusions described under Imputation Procedures) and are 

thus not represented in tables 3 and 4 of the Selected Findings. However, tables 1 and 2 are based 

on data from the EAP component, which is required of all Title IV institutions. Because of the 

differences in the sets of responding institutions, the numbers of employees and faculty may 

differ among the tables. 

Second, the edit checks embedded in the data collection system compare numbers of employees 

reported across the three human resource components; however, these edits provided for a 

certain amount of tolerance in the comparisons. For example, if the number of employees by 

primary function/occupational activity for one survey component differed in another survey 

component by 10 percent or less, no explanation was required. 

Finally, as discussed under Survey Components, changes in the way that data were collected in 

the 2004–05 EAP component on employees in medical schools could affect comparisons with 

earlier IPEDS collections. 

Data Perturbation and Confidentiality 

Four laws cover protection of the confidentiality of individually identifiable information 

collected by NCES—the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended; the E-Government Act of 2002; the 

Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002; and the USA Patriot Act of 2001. Therefore, 

Under law, public use data collected and distributed by the National Center for 

Education Statistics (NCES) may be used only for statistical purposes. Any effort 

to determine the identity of any reported case by public-use data users is 

prohibited by law. Violations are subject to Class E felony charges of a fine up to 

$250,000 and/or a prison term up to 5 years.

In order to preserve the confidentiality of individuals’ salaries, data in the Fall Staff and Salaries 

data files are subject to perturbation. Perturbation of the salaries data was performed in such a 

manner that the average salaries by institutional level were not affected by perturbation. All 

salaries data in this report are based on the perturbed data. Fall Staff and Salaries data included in 

the Peer Analysis System are perturbed. 
A-13

Table A-3. Salary outlays, amounts imputed, and percentages imputed for Title IV degree-granting institutions, by 

control of institution, contract length, gender, and academic rank: United States, academic year 2004–05 

[Amounts except percentages are in thousands of dollars] 

Total Public Private not-for-profit Private for-profit 

Gender and academic Imputed Imputed Imputed Imputed 

rank 

Salary 

outlays Amount Percent 

Salary 

outlays Amount Percent

Salary 

outlays Amount Percent 

Salary 

outlays Amount Percent

Less-than-9-month contract 

Total $75,610 $50 0.1 $50,937 $0 0.0 $14,299 $50 0.4 $10,374 $0 0.0

Men 42,656 29 0.1 26,922 0 0.0 9,587 29 0.3 6,146 0 0.0

Professor 5,230 0 0.0 2,077 0 0.0 3,153 0 0.0 † † †

Associate professor 2,558 0 0.0 1,872 0 0.0 319 0 0.0 366 0 0.0

Assistant professor 3,028 0 0.0 2,541 0 0.0 487 0 0.0 † † †

Instructor 20,076 29 0.1 13,768 0 0.0 763 29 3.8 5,546 0 0.0

Lecturer 4,976 0 0.0 3,494 0 0.0 1,248 0 0.0 234 0 0.0

No academic rank 6,788 0 0.0 3,170 0 0.0 3,617 0 0.0 † † †

Women 32,955 22 0.1 24,015 0 0.0 4,712 22 0.5 4,228 0 0.0

Professor 1,275 0 0.0 603 0 0.0 672 0 0.0 † † †

Associate professor 1,386 0 0.0 730 0 0.0 541 0 0.0 115 0 0.0

Assistant professor 1,803 0 0.0 1,134 0 0.0 669 0 0.0 † † †

Instructor 20,025 22 0.1 14,799 0 0.0 1,130 22 1.9 4,096 0 0.0

Lecturer 5,100 0 0.0 4,501 0 0.0 582 0 0.0 17 0 0.0

No academic rank 3,366 0 0.0 2,249 0 0.0 1,118 0 0.0 † † †

 

 9/10-month contract 

Total 28,395,433 5,595 # 19,439,207 3,908 # 8,927,741 1,687 # 28,485 0 0.0

Men 18,048,382 3,007 # 12,107,757 1,740 # 5,925,209 1,267 # 15,416 0 0.0

Professor 8,402,240 0 0.0 5,278,736 0 0.0 3,120,541 0 0.0 2,963 0 0.0

Associate professor 3,924,142 0 0.0 2,533,755 0 0.0 1,388,908 0 0.0 1,479 0 0.0

Assistant professor 3,152,518 0 0.0 2,068,590 0 0.0 1,082,389 0 0.0 1,539 0 0.0

Instructor 1,388,491 1,399 0.1 1,251,522 132 # 133,479 1,267 0.9 3,491 0 0.0

Lecturer 415,136 0 0.0 309,387 0 0.0 105,749 0 0.0 † † †

No academic rank 765,855 1,608 0.2 665,768 1,608 0.2 94,142 0 0.0 5,945 0 0.0

Women 10,347,051 2,588 # 7,331,450 2,168 # 3,002,532 421 # 13,069 0 0.0

Professor 2,535,807 0 0.0 1,656,138 0 0.0 878,112 0 0.0 1,557 0 0.0

Associate professor 2,436,550 0 0.0 1,578,803 0 0.0 856,504 0 0.0 1,242 0 0.0

Assistant professor 2,586,867 0 0.0 1,670,624 0 0.0 912,776 0 0.0 3,467 0 0.0

Instructor 1,563,229 421 # 1,386,299 0 0.0 173,723 421 0.2 3,207 0 0.0

Lecturer 440,513 0 0.0 335,490 0 0.0 105,023 0 0.0 † † †

No academic rank 784,085 2,168 0.3 704,095 2,168 0.3 76,394 0 0.0 3,596 0 0.0

 

 11/12-month contract 

Total 6,144,411 16,315 0.3 3,661,250 12,701 0.3 1,863,709 2,184 0.1 619,451 1,430 0.2

Men 3,956,066 12,685 0.3 2,384,370 10,352 0.4 1,185,475 1,419 0.1 386,221 914 0.2

Professor 1,699,634 3,416 0.2 1,195,341 3,329 0.3 468,891 87 # 35,401 0 0.0

Associate professor 753,052 3,838 0.5 457,112 3,838 0.8 276,068 0 0.0 19,873 0 0.0

Assistant professor 526,227 2,916 0.6 284,192 2,916 1.0 232,412 0 0.0 9,624 0 0.0

Instructor 616,268 2,406 0.4 259,901 201 0.1 82,609 1,291 1.6 273,758 914 0.3

Lecturer 78,330 0 0.0 60,509 0 0.0 15,670 0 0.0 2,151 0 0.0

No academic rank 282,555 109 # 127,316 68 0.1 109,825 41 # 45,415 0 0.0

Women 2,188,345 3,630 0.2 1,276,880 2,349 0.2 678,234 765 0.1 233,230 516 0.2

Professor 431,915 605 0.1 288,269 605 0.2 131,088 0 0.0 12,559 0 0.0

Associate professor 427,607 681 0.2 259,252 681 0.3 160,863 0 0.0 7,492 0 0.0

Assistant professor 493,701 780 0.2 260,766 780 0.3 229,026 0 0.0 3,908 0 0.0

Instructor 550,470 1,281 0.2 297,177 0 0.0 82,017 765 0.9 171,276 516 0.3

Lecturer 68,367 0 0.0 51,817 0 0.0 15,094 0 0.0 1,457 0 0.0

No academic rank 216,285 283 0.1 119,599 283 0.2 60,147 0 0.0 36,539 0 0.0

† Not applicable. 

# Rounds to zero. 

NOTE: Table is restricted to U.S. institutions only. For institutions in other jurisdictions, no salary outlays were imputed. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 

2004–05, Salaries component. 
A-14

Table A-4. Benefit expenditures, amounts imputed, and percentages imputed for Title IV degree-granting institutions, by 

control of institution, contract length, and benefit type: United States, academic year 2004–05 

[Amounts except percentages are in thousands of dollars] 

Total Public Private not-for-profit Private for-profit 

Imputed Imputed Imputed Imputed 

Benefit type 

Expenditures Amount Percent Expenditures Amount Percent Expenditures Amount Percent Expenditures Amount Percent

 

 9/10-month contract 

 

Retirement plans—

vested within 5 

years $1,910,976 $483 # $1,161,476 $35 # $748,799 $448 0.1 $701 $0 0.0

Retirement plans—

vested after 5 years 694,101 297 # 670,758 297 # 23,289 0 0.0 55 0 0.0

Medical/dental plans 2,594,152 724 # 1,911,479 274 # 680,602 450 0.1 2,071 0 0.0

Group life insurance 67,647 34 0.1 41,743 21 0.1 25,656 13 0.1 248 0 0.0

Other insurance 

benefits 32,890 0 0.0 23,564 0 0.0 9,236 0 0.0 91 0 0.0

Guaranteed disability 

income protection 72,252 17 # 43,156 0 0.0 29,054 17 0.1 42 0 0.0

Tuition plan 201,776 127 0.1 35,412 0 0.0 166,280 127 0.1 84 0 0.0

Housing plan 19,954 0 0.0 6,085 0 0.0 13,869 0 0.0 † † †

Social Security taxes 1,744,265 683 # 1,142,191 294 # 600,086 389 0.1 1,988 0 0.0

Unemployment 

compensation 69,875 2 # 45,491 0 0.0 24,116 2 # 268 0 0.0

Worker’s 

compensation 167,721 18 # 113,121 0 0.0 54,475 18 # 125 0 0.0

Other benefits in kind 

with cash options 58,047 0 0.0 34,022 0 0.0 24,024 0 0.0 2 0 0.0

 

 11/12-month contract 

 

Retirement plans—

vested within 5 

years 348,005 35 # 214,935 0 0.0 126,821 35 # 6,249 0 0.0

Retirement plans—

vested after 5 years 150,413 1,515 1.0 126,244 1,514 1.2 17,486 0 0.0 6,683 1 #

Medical/dental plans 447,455 938 0.2 268,670 519 0.2 135,141 320 0.2 43,643 100 0.2

Group life insurance 19,731 23 0.1 7,645 17 0.2 6,338 5 0.1 5,748 1 #

Other insurance 

benefits 12,535 0 0.0 7,122 0 0.0 4,168 0 0.0 1,245 0 0.0

Guaranteed disability 

income protection 18,747 1 # 9,306 0 0.0 6,653 1 # 2,788 0 0.0

Tuition plan 28,052 37 0.1 5,626 0 0.0 19,745 37 0.2 2,681 0 0.0

Housing plan 6,229 0 0.0 1,047 0 0.0 5,182 0 0.0 † † †

Social Security taxes 341,800 840 0.2 201,077 605 0.3 100,425 126 0.1 40,298 109 0.3

Unemployment 

compensation 21,198 24 0.1 7,246 0 0.0 5,926 20 0.3 8,026 4 0.1

Worker’s 

compensation 38,176 90 0.2 17,569 0 0.0 13,332 82 0.6 7,276 8 0.1

Other benefits in kind 

with cash options 11,429 0 0.0 7,600 0 0.0 3,271 0 0.0 557 0 0.0

† Not applicable. 

# Rounds to zero. 

NOTE: Table is restricted to U.S. institutions only. For institutions in other jurisdictions, no expenditures were imputed. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 

2004–05, Salaries component. 
B-1

Appendix B: 

Glossary of IPEDS Terms 

11/12-month salary contract/teaching period: The contracted teaching period of faculty employed 

for the entire year, usually for a period of 11 or 12 months. 

9/10-month salary contract/teaching period: The contracted teaching period of faculty employed 

for 2 semesters, 3 quarters, 2 trimesters, 2 four-month sessions, or the equivalent. 

child institution: An institution that has its data reported by another institution, known as the 

parent institution. 

clerical and secretarial: A primary function or occupational activity category used to classify 

persons whose assignments typically are associated with clerical activities or are specifically of a 

secretarial nature. Includes personnel who are responsible for internal and external 

communications, recording and retrieval of data (other than computer programmer) and/or 

information and other paperwork required in an office. Also includes such occupational titles as 

switchboard operators, including answering service; telephone operators; bill and account 

collectors; billing and posting clerks and machine operators; bookkeeping, accounting, and 

auditing clerks; payroll and timekeeping clerks; procurement clerks; file clerks; clerical library 

assistants; human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping; shipping, receiving, and 

traffic clerks; secretaries and administrative assistants; computer operators; data entry and 

information processing workers; desktop publishers; mail clerks and mail machine operators 

(except postal service); office clerks (general); office machine operators (except computer); and 

proofreaders and copy markers. 

control (of institution): A classification of whether an institution is operated by publicly elected 

or appointed officials (public control) or by privately elected or appointed officials and derives 

its major source of funds from private sources (private control). 

coordinator: The person responsible for Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 

(IPEDS) survey related coordination activities for a specified group of schools within a state. 

This person may have certain viewing, verifying, and locking privileges on the data collection 

system. 

degree-granting institution: An institution offering an associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, doctor’s, 

or first-professional degree. 

Donor institution: A responding institution whose values are assigned to the imputee. 

executive, administrative, and managerial: A primary function or occupational activity category 

used to classify persons whose assignments require management of the institution, or a 

customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof. Assignments require the performance 

of work directly related to management policies or general business operations of the institution, 

department, or subdivision. Assignments in this category customarily and regularly require the 

incumbent to exercise discretion and independent judgment. Included in this category are 
B-2

employees holding titles such as top executives; chief executives; general and operations 

managers; advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers; operations 

specialties managers; administrative services managers; computer and information systems 

managers; financial managers; human resources managers; purchasing managers; postsecondary 

education administrators, such as presidents, vice presidents (including assistants and associates), 

deans (including assistants and associates) if their principal activity is administrative and not 

primarily instruction, research, or public service, directors (including assistants and associates), 

department heads (including assistants and associates) if their principal activity is administrative 

and not primarily instruction, research, or public service, and assistant and associate managers 

(including first-line managers of service, production, and sales workers who spend more than 80 

percent of their time performing supervisory activities); engineering managers; food service 

managers; lodging managers; and medical and health services managers. 

faculty: Persons identified by the institution as such and typically those whose initial 

assignments are made for the purpose of conducting instruction, research, or public service as a 

principal activity (or activities). They may hold academic rank titles of professor, associate 

professor, assistant professor, instructor, lecturer, or the equivalent of any of those academic 

ranks. Faculty may also include the chancellor/president, provost, vice provosts, deans, directors, 

or the equivalent, as well as associate deans, assistant deans, and executive officers of academic 

departments (chairpersons, heads, or the equivalent) if their principal activity is instruction 

combined with research and/or public service. The designation as “faculty” is separate from the 

activities to which they may be currently assigned. For example, a newly appointed president of 

an institution may also be appointed as a faculty member. Graduate, instruction, and research 

assistants are not included in this category. 

four-year institution: A postsecondary institution that offers programs of at least 4 years’ 

duration or one that offers programs at or above the baccalaureate level. Includes schools that 

offer postbaccalaureate certificates only or those that offer graduate programs only. Also 

includes free-standing medical, law, or other first-professional schools. 

fringe benefits: Cash contributions in the form of supplementary or deferred compensation other 

than salary. Excludes the employee’s contribution. Employee fringe benefits include retirement 

plans, employer portion of social security taxes, medical/dental plans, guaranteed disability 

income protection plans, tuition plans, housing plans, unemployment compensation plans, group 

life insurance plans, worker’s compensation plans, and other benefits in-kind with cash options. 

full-time instructional faculty: Those members of the instruction/research staff who are 

employed full time and whose major regular assignment is instruction, including those with 

released time for research. Also includes full-time faculty for whom it is not possible to 

differentiate among teaching, research, and public service because each of these functions is an 

integral component of their regular assignment. 

graduate assistants: Graduate-level students who are employed on a part-time basis for the 

primary purpose of assisting in classroom or laboratory instruction or in the conduct of research. 

Graduate students having titles such as graduate assistant, teaching assistant, teaching associate, 

teaching fellow, or research assistant typically hold these positions. 

imputee: A nonresponding institution that has its values imputed. 
B-3

institutional affiliation: A classification that indicates whether a private not-for-profit institution is 

associated with a religious group or denomination. Private not-for-profit institutions may be either 

independent or religiously affiliated. 

instruction combined with research and/or public service: A primary function or occupational 

activity category used to classify persons for whom it is not possible to differentiate among 

teaching, research, and public service because each of these functions is an integral component 

of their regular assignment. These employees may hold academic rank titles of professor, 

associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, lecturer, or the equivalent. This category 

includes all officers holding titles such as associate deans, assistant deans, and executive officers 

of academic departments (chairpersons, heads, or equivalent) if their principal activity is 

instruction combined with research and/or public service. 

keyholder: The person designated by an official institutional representative to have in their 

possession the necessary UserID and password to gain access to the Integrated Postsecondary 

Education Data System (IPEDS) data collection system to complete the survey. The keyholder is 

responsible for entering data and locking the site by each survey completion date. 

less-than-2-year institution: A postsecondary institution that offers programs of less than 2 years’ 

duration below the baccalaureate level. Includes occupational and vocational schools with 

programs that do not exceed 1,800 contact hours. 

less than 9/10-month salary contract/teaching period: The contracted teaching period of faculty 

employed for less than 2 semesters, 3 quarters, 2 trimesters, or 2 four-month sessions. 

level (of institution): A means to classify institutions based on the highest level/length of 

programs offered: 4 years or higher (bachelor’s degrees or higher), at least 2 but less than 

4 years’ duration, or less than 2 years’ duration. 

medical school staff (employees): Staff employed by or employees working in the medical 

school component of a postsecondary institution or in a freestanding medical school. Does not 

include staff employed by or employees working strictly in a hospital associated with a medical 

school or those who work in health or allied health schools or departments such as dentistry, 

veterinary medicine, nursing, or dental hygiene. 

non-degree-granting institution: An institution offering only postbaccalaureate, post-master’s, or 

first-professional certificates, or certificates or diplomas of 4 years or less. 

nonprofessional staff: Employees of an institution whose primary function or occupational 

activity is classified as one of the following: technical and paraprofessional; clerical and 

secretarial; skilled crafts; or service/maintenance. 

OPE: Office of Postsecondary Education. 

other professional (support/service): A primary function or occupational activity category used to 

classify persons employed for the primary purpose of performing academic support, student 

service, and institutional support, whose assignments would require either a baccalaureate degree 

or higher or experience of such kind and amount as to provide a comparable background. 

Included in this category are all employees holding titles such as business operations specialists; 
B-4

buyers and purchasing agents; human resources, training, and labor relations specialists; 

management analysts; meeting and convention planners; miscellaneous business operations 

specialists; financial specialists; accountants and auditors; budget analysts; financial analysts and 

advisors; financial examiners; loan counselors and officers; computer specialists; computer and 

information scientists, research; computer programmers; computer software engineers; computer 

support specialists; computer systems analysts; database administrators; network and computer 

systems administrators; network systems and data communication analysts; counselors, social 

workers, and other community and social service specialists; counselors; social workers; health 

educators; clergy; directors, religious activities and education; lawyers; librarians, curators, and 

archivists; museum technicians and conservators; librarians; artists and related workers; 

designers; athletes, coaches, and umpires; dancers and choreographers; music directors and 

composers; chiropractors; dentists; dietitians and nutritionists; optometrists; pharmacists; 

physicians and surgeons; podiatrists; registered nurses; therapists; and veterinarians. 

parent institution: An institution that reports data for another institution, known as the child 

institution. 

PEPS: Postsecondary Education Participation System (database used by OPE to track all 

institutions eligible for Title IV federal student financial aid programs). 

postsecondary institution: An institution that has as its sole purpose, or one of its primary 

missions, the provision of postsecondary education. Postsecondary education is the provision of 

a formal instructional program whose curriculum is designed primarily for students beyond the 

compulsory age for high school. This includes programs whose purpose is academic, vocational, 

and continuing professional education, and excludes avocational and adult basic education 

programs. For IPEDS, these institutions must be open to the public. 

primarily instruction: A primary function or occupational activity category used to classify 

persons whose specific assignments are customarily made for the purpose of conducting 

instruction or teaching and who hold academic titles of professor, associate professor, assistant 

professor, instructor, lecturer, or the equivalent. Includes deans, directors, or the equivalent, as 

well as associate deans, assistant deans, and executive officers of academic departments 

(chairpersons, heads, or equivalent) if their principal activity is instruction. 

primarily public service: A primary function or occupational activity category used to classify 

persons whose specific assignments customarily are made for the purpose of carrying out public 

service activities such as agricultural extension services, clinical services, or continuing 

education and who may hold academic titles of professor, associate professor, or assistant 

professor. Includes deans, directors, or the equivalent, as well as associate deans, assistant deans, 

or executive officers of academic departments (chairpersons, heads, or equivalent) if their 

principal activity is public service. 

primarily research: A primary function or occupational activity category used to classify persons 

whose specific assignments are customarily made for the purpose of conducting research and 

who hold academic titles of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor or titles such as 

research associate or postdoctoral fellow. Includes deans, directors, or the equivalent, as well as 

associate deans, assistant deans, and executive officers of academic departments (chairpersons, 

heads, or equivalent) if their principal activity is research. 
B-5

primary occupational activity: The principal activity of a staff member as determined by the 

institution. If an individual participates in two or more activities, the primary activity is normally 

determined by the amount of time spent in each activity. Occupational activities are designated 

as follows: faculty (instruction/research/public service); executive, administrative, and 

managerial; graduate assistants; other professional (support/service); technical and 

paraprofessional; clerical and secretarial; skilled crafts; and service/maintenance (see separate 

definitions). 

private for-profit institution: A private institution in which the individual(s) or agency in control 

receives compensation other than wages, rent, or other expenses for the assumption of risk. 

private institution: An educational institution controlled by a private individual(s) or by a 

nongovernmental agency, usually supported primarily by other than public funds, and operated 

by other than publicly elected or appointed officials. These institutions may be either for-profit 

or not-for-profit. 

private not-for-profit institution: A private institution in which the individual(s) or agency in 

control receives no compensation, other than wages, rent, or other expenses for the assumption 

of risk. These include both independent not-for-profit schools and those affiliated with a 

religious organization. 

professional staff: Employees of an institution whose primary function or occupational activity is 

classified as one of the following: faculty; executive, administrative, managerial; or other 

professional. 

PPA (Program Participation Agreement): A written agreement between a postsecondary 

institution and the Secretary of Education. This agreement allows institutions to participate in 

any of the Title IV student assistance programs other than the State Student Incentive Grant 

(SSIG) and the National Early Intervention Scholarship and Partnership (NEISP) programs. The 

PPA conditions the initial and continued participation of an eligible institution in any Title IV 

program upon compliance with the General Provisions regulations, the individual program 

regulations, and any additional conditions specified in the program participation agreement that 

the Department of Education requires the institution to meet. Institutions with such an agreement 

are referred to as Title IV institutions. 

race/ethnicity: Categories used to describe groups to which individuals belong, identify with, or 

belong in the eyes of the community. The categories do not denote scientific definitions of 

anthropological origins. A person may be counted in only one group. The groups used to 

categorize U.S. citizens, resident aliens, and other eligible non-citizens are as follows: American 

Indian/Alaska Native; Asian/Pacific Islander; Black, non-Hispanic; Hispanic; White, nonHispanic.

sector: One of nine institutional categories resulting from dividing the universe according to 

control and level. Control categories are public, private not-for-profit, and private for-profit. 

Level categories are 4 years and higher (4-year institutions), at least 2 but less than 4 years (2- year 

institutions), and less than 2 years (less-than-2-year institutions). For example: sector 1 = public 4-

year institutions; sector 2 = private not-for-profit 4-year institutions. 
B-6

service/maintenance: A primary function or occupational activity category used to classify 

persons whose assignments require limited degrees of previously acquired skills and knowledge 

and in which workers perform duties that result in or contribute to the comfort, convenience, and 

hygiene of personnel and the student body or that contribute to the upkeep of the institutional 

property. Includes titles such as fire fighters; law enforcement workers; parking enforcement 

workers; police officers; security guards; lifeguards; ski patrol; cooks and food preparation 

workers; food and beverage serving workers; fast food and counter workers; waiters and 

waitresses; other food preparation- and serving-related workers; building cleaning and pest 

control workers; grounds maintenance workers; electrical and electronic equipment mechanics; 

installers and repairers; radio and telecommunications equipment installers and repairers; 

avionics technicians; electric motor, power tool, and related repairers; vehicle and mobile 

equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers; control and valve installers and repairers; heating, 

air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers; air transportation workers; motor 

vehicle operators; and parking lot attendants. 

skilled crafts: A primary function or occupational activity category used to classify persons 

whose assignments typically require special manual skills and a thorough and comprehensive 

knowledge of the processes involved in the work, acquired through on-the-job-training and 

experience or through apprenticeship or other formal training programs. Includes occupational 

titles such as welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers; bookbinders and bindery workers; printers; 

cabinetmakers and bench carpenters; plant and system operators; stationary engineers and boiler 

operators; water and liquid waste treatment plant and system operators; crushing, grinding, 

polishing, mixing, and blending workers; medical, dental, and ophthalmic laboratory technicians; 

painting workers; photographic process workers and processing machine operators; and etchers 

and engravers. 

technical and paraprofessional: A primary function or occupational activity category used to 

classify persons whose assignments require specialized knowledge or skills which may be 

acquired through experience, apprenticeship, on-the-job training, or academic work in 

occupationally specific programs that result in a 2-year degree or other certificate or diploma. 

Includes persons who perform some of the duties of a professional in a supportive role, which 

usually requires less formal training and experience than normally required for professional 

status. Includes mathematical technicians; life, physical, and social science technicians; 

agricultural and food science technicians; chemical technicians; geological and petroleum 

technicians; nuclear technicians; paralegals and legal assistants; miscellaneous legal support 

workers; health technologists and technicians; dietetic technicians; pharmacy technicians; 

licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses; medical records and health information 

technicians; opticians, dispensing; healthcare support occupations; nursing aides, orderlies, and 

attendants; physical therapist assistants and aides; massage therapists; dental assistants; medical 

assistants; and pharmacy aides. 

Title IV institution: An institution that has a written agreement with the Secretary of Education 

that allows the institution to participate in any of the Title IV federal student financial assistance 

programs (other than the State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) and the National Early 

Intervention Scholarship and Partnership [NEISP] programs). 
B-7

two-year institution: A postsecondary institution that offers programs of at least 2 but less than 4 

years’ duration. Includes occupational and vocational schools with programs of at least 1,800 

hours and academic institutions with programs of less than 4 years. Does not include bachelor’s 

degree-granting institutions where the baccalaureate program can be completed in 3 years. 

UserID: A series of numbers possibly with an alpha prefix that is created for a specific user to be 

able to access a system. Each user is required to have a UserID and a password in order to access 

the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data collection system for security 

purposes.