DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02447.v1
title: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS): Fall Enrollment, 1996-1997
title: Version 1

description: The purpose of this data collection was to provide a more
 accurate measure of the racial/ethnic enrollment in postsecondary
 institutions in the United States than was previously available. The
 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects racial/ethnic
 enrollment data from higher education institutions on an annual
 basis. Some institutions do not report these data, and their
 "unknown" categories have previously been distributed in direct
 proportion to the "knowns." This resulted in lower than accurate
 figures for the racial/ethnic categories. With the advent of the
 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), NCES has
 attempted to eliminate this problem by distributing all
 "race/ethnicity unknown" students through a two-stage
 process. First, the differences between reported totals and
 racial/ethnic details were allocated on a gender and institutional
 basis by distributing the differences in direct proportion to reported
 distributions. The second-stage distribution was designed to eliminate
 the remaining instances of "race/ethnicity unknown." The procedure
 was to accumulate the reported racial/ethnic total enrollments by
 state, level, control, and gender, calculate the percentage
 distributions, and apply these percentages to the reported total
 enrollments of institutional respondents (in the same state, level,
 and control) that did not supply race/ethnicity detail. In addition,
 the original "race/ethnicity unknown" data were also left unaltered
 for those who wish to review the numbers actually distributed. The
 racial/ethnic status was broken down into nonresident alien, Black
 non-Hispanic, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian or Pacific
 Islander, Hispanic, and White non-Hispanic. There are six data
 files. Part 1, Institutional Characteristics, includes variables on
 control and level of institution, religious affiliation, highest level
 of offering, Carnegie classification, and state FIPS code and
 abbreviation. Variables in Part 2 cover total original enrollment by
 race/ethnicity and sex and by level and year of study of
 student. Race/ethnicity data were not imputed for institutions that
 only reported total enrollment. The "race ethnicity unknown"
 category was not distributed among the race/ethnicity categories. In
 Part 3, enrollment data are presented by race/ethnicity and sex of
 student, and by level and year of study for the following selected
 major field of studies: architecture, education, engineering, law,
 biological/life sciences, mathematics, physical sciences, dentistry,
 medicine, veterinary medicine, and business management and
 administrative services. This file contains data for four-year
 institutions only. Part 4 provides summary enrollment data by
 adjusted race/ethnicity and sex of student and by level and year of
 study of student. The "race/ethnicity unknown" category data were
 distributed across all known race categories in this file. Also, race
 data were imputed for institutions that did not report enrollment by
 race. Part 5, Residence and Migration, contains enrollment data for
 first-time freshmen, by state of residence. Part 6, Clarifying
 Questions on Enrollments, provides information on students enrolled in
 remedial courses, extension divisions, and branches of schools, and
 numbers of transfer students from in-state, out of state, and other
countries.
description: All two-year and over postsecondary institutions were
 included, along with a probability-of-selection sample of all
less-than-two-year private institutions.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Institutional Characteristics
DS2: Original Enrollment Data by Race/Ethnicity and Sex and by Level and Year of Study
DS3: Original Enrollment Data by Race/Ethnicity and Sex and by Level and Year of Study of Selected Major Fields
DS4: Adjusted Enrollment Data by Race/Ethnicity and Sex and by Level and Year of Study
DS5: Residence and Migration
DS6: Clarifying Questions on Enrollments
description: All postsecondary institutions in operation in 1996 in the
United States and its outlying areas.
description: The codebook and data collection instruments are
 provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format
 was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using
 PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 3.0 or
 later). Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is
provided through the ICPSR Website on the Internet.