Fall enrollment is a measure of student access to higher education at traditional institutions. Data are collected for all students enrolled in credit-bearing courses/programs which could potentially lead to awards ranging from postsecondary certificates of less than 1 year to doctoral degrees.

Data collected include:

• Full- and part-time students enrolled in the fall by level, race/ethnicity, and gender;
• Residence and high school graduation status of first-time undergraduate students (in even years);
• Age of students (in odd years);
• First-time retention rates;
• Student-to-faculty ratio; and
• Students enrolled in distance education.

In even-numbered years, four-year institutions are also required to provide enrollment data by level, race/ethnicity, and gender for 9 selected fields of study for the Office for Civil Rights.

• Race/Ethnicity Information Center
• How Institutions Report Study Abroad Students
• Data Release Cycle Information
• The History and Origins of Survey Items (2022–23 Update)
• Data use tip sheet: Using Student Financial Aid (SFA) and Fall (EF) or 12 Month (E12) Enrollment data to calculate how many undergraduates receive financial aid
• Distance Education in IPEDS
• Timing of IPEDS Data Collection
• Student Cohorts and Subgroups in IPEDS

• All Frequently Asked Questions

• Provides an overview of the survey component
• Discusses the reporting of distance education data
• Explains how to use edit explanations and context boxes
• Explains the difference between fall enrollment and 12-month enrollment
• Discusses first-time degree or certificate-seeking students
• Discusses the reporting of retention data and the calculation of retention rates (4-year institutions)
• Discusses the reporting of retention data and the calculation of retention rates (less-than 4-year institutions)
• Discusses which students to include when reporting 12-month and fall enrollment counts