ARCHIVED INFORMATION: Questions and Answers Regarding the 2005-06 SSS Annual Performance Report (APR)
Responses provided by Ms. Frances Bergeron, U.S. Department of Education,
February 12, 2007
QUESTION: What is the preferred format for the date fields if the grantee is uploading an Excel data file? Should the date fields be formatted as text or may they be formatted as dates?
RESPONSE: Per the APR instructions, the preferred format for date fields is MM/DD/CCYY. However for dates less than 10 months or 10 days, the date may be formatted as M/D/CCYY (i.e., 5/8/2005).
A grantee should not use the date format in Excel because it can produce unpredictable results. For example, the cell may read “06/12/1985” but in Excel it may have a time stamp of 6/12/85 12:00 AM. The time stamp causes errors in uploading the grantee’s participant file. If using the date format for the date fields, the grantee must convert the file to CSV format for uploading. The Web application for the SSS APR uses the text format for date fields.
QUESTION: Field #21 (Persistence Status at the beginning of the 2006-07 academic year): What is the correct response for a participant who did not attend the grantee institutions during the 2005-06 academic year and whose participant status (field #15) is PartCD = 4 but returned for the fall term 2006?
RESPONSE: Option #1: Enrolled at grantee institution.
QUESTION: Field #19 (College Grade Level, at the end of the current reporting year): What is the correct response for a student who graduates and/or transfers during the reporting year (2005-06)? It appears that the general APR instructions and the field instructions for field #19 are in conflict. The general APR instructions state: “For students who graduated or transferred or students who are prior-year participants no longer enrolled at the institution during 2005-06 use “99” while the field #19 (Section III) instructions state: “Use option “99” for an individual who is a prior-year participant, no longer enrolled at the grantee institution.
RESPONSE: ED apologizes for the confusion. A grantee should only use “99- not applicable” for those individuals who are “prior year participants, no longer enrolled at grantee institution” (PartCD = 4 in field #15). For a participant who graduated and/or transferred during the academic year, choose the appropriate grade level for the student (i.e., option #3,”2nd yr./sophomore” for a two-year student who graduated with an associate’s degree during the reporting year; option #5, “4th yr./senior” for a four-year student who graduated with a bachelor’s degree during the reporting year). For a participant who transferred prior to completing a degree, report the student’s grade level, as determined by the grantee institution, at the time of the transfer.
If a grantee followed the general APR instructions and selected “99” in field #19 for participants who graduated or transferred, the grantee does not need to correct the data file for the 2005-06 reporting year. ED is aware of the mistake and for program analysis can use other data fields to estimate the college grade level of graduates and transfers.
QUESTION: Fields #19 (College Grade Level, at end of the current reporting year); #20 (Persistence/Graduation Status, end of the 2005-06 academic year) and #21 (Persistence Status, at beginning of the 2006-07 academic year): What are the correct responses for a participant who graduated with a bachelor’s degree at the end of the academic year but is still enrolled at the grantee institution at the beginning of the 2006-07 academic year to begin working on a graduate degree?
RESPONSE: For field #19, select option #5, “4th yr./senior”. For field #20, select option 2, “graduated with a bachelor’s degree”. For field #21, select option #3, “not enrolled at grantee institution”.
QUESTION: Fields #19 (College Grade Level, at end of the current reporting year); #20 (Persistence/Graduation Status, end of the 2005-06 academic year) and #21 (Persistence Status, at beginning of the 2006-07 academic year): What are the correct responses for a participant who graduated with a bachelor’s degree and began graduate school during the reporting year?
RESPONSE: For field #19, select option #13, “continuing graduate/professional student”. For field #20, select option 2, “graduated with a bachelor’s degree”. For field #21, select option #3, “not enrolled at grantee institution”.
ED will use the data in fields #20, #21, and #23 to calculate the annual persistence rate of SSS grantees. Thus, for field #21, ED is only interested in knowing the enrollment status of project participants who have not earned their undergraduate degrees and/or transferred from a two-year to four-year institution. Even though a participant (or prior-year participant) is pursuing a graduate degree at the grantee institution, a grantee only needs to track and report on participants who remain at the grantee institution through completion of the undergraduate degree. Once the undergraduate degree has been reported, the grantee may drop the participant record from subsequent data files.
If, however, the grantee continued to serve the participant in the academic year following the student’s completion of his/her undergraduate degree (e.g., pursuing second bachelor’s degree), the grantee should select option #1, “enrolled at grantee institution” in field #21.
QUESTION: Field #21 (Persistence Status, at the beginning of the 2006-07 academic year): The general APR instructions for field #21 state that a grantee should collect data on the enrolment status of project participants after the end of the budget period but before the due date for submitting the APR. What is the correct response for project participants who were not enrolled at the grantee institution for the fall term 2006 but enrolled for the winter term 2007, since the 2005-06 APR due date is February 16, 2007?
RESPONSE: In field #21, select option #3, “not enrolled at grantee institution”, since the participant was not enrolled at the grantee institution at the beginning of the 2006-07 academic year (i.e., fall 2006). Since normally the SSS APR will be due November 30 of each reporting year, a grantee will only be able to report on the fall enrollment status of project participants. Thus, the calculation of the project’s persistence rate is based on the fall enrollment.
QUESTION: Field #27 (Undergraduate Degree/Certificate Completed at Grantee Institution): What is the correct response for a participant who completed an associate’s degree at the grantee institution (a two-year institution) who also stayed at the institution to obtain another associate’s degree?
RESPONSE: Select option #3, “Associate’s degree (two year)” in field #27 and provide the date this degree was earned in field #28 (Date of Undergraduate Degree).
QUESTION: When may the record for a “prior-year participant, no longer enrolled at grantee institution” (PartCD = 4 in field #15) be dropped from the annual APR data file?
RESPONSE: A grantee should drop the participant record for any participant coded as PartCD = 4 in 2005-06 from the 2006-07 APR unless the participant re-enrolls at the grantee institution.
QUESTION: Should the participant data file for the reporting year include a prior-year participant who has graduated but returns to the grantee institution as a non-matriculated student?
RESPONSE: No.
QUESTION: Field #23 (Transfers): What is the correct response if a student transferred from a two-year to a four-year institution and is enrolled at the four-year institution but is also taking one or more classes at the two-year institution?
RESPONSE: The following responses assume that once the student transferred to the four-year institution, the student was no longer receiving services from the SSS project. If the transfer was not reported on the previous year’s data file, the grantee would include the participant record on the 2005-06 APR and select the following responses:
Field # |
Response/Option |
|
#15 (PartCD) |
Option #4, “prior year participant, no longer enrolled at grantee institution” |
|
#23 (Transfers) |
Option #2, “transferred from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution” |
The participant record would then be dropped from the next APR (i.e., 2006-07). For the purpose of the APR, the student has transferred to and enrolled in classes at another institution, even though he/she may be taking one or more classes at the grantee institution.
QUESTION: What are the correct responses for fields #20, #21, and #27 for a project participant who had graduated with an associate’s degree from the grantee institution (a two-year community college) but is now enrolled concurrently at a four-year university taking junior and/or senior level courses and at the two-year community college taking lower level courses required for the bachelor’s degree and continues to receive SSS project services from the grantee institution (two-year institution).
RESPONSE: Since the student received services at the two-year institution during the reporting year, the grantee should include the student on the participant data file. Although none of the field options available for fields #20, #21 and #27 fit this situation well, ED recommends the grantee provide the following responses:
Note: ED does not recommend the grantee continue to serve a student at the two-year institution once the student transfers to a four-year institution for the following reasons. First, the student has already achieved the stated goal/objective of the grantee institution’s SSS project (transferred to a four-year institution). Furthermore, because most SSS projects have limited resources, another needy student may not be served because this student is still being served. Finally, the inclusion of this student record confounds data analysis, since the participant is receiving services from a two-year institution while pursuing a four-year degree. ED recommends that the student seeks support services from the four-year institution.
QUESTION: Field #19 (College Grade Level, at the end of the current reporting period): What is the participant’s college grade level for a participant enrolled at a two-year institution, if the participant has more than 64 credits?
RESPONSE: Per the APR instructions, the grantee should use grade level classification criteria used by the grantee institution. If the participant has not yet completed a two-year degree program, the grantee institution probably has classified the participant as a “2nd yr./sophomore” (check the grantee’s grade level classification policies). If the participant has completed a two-year degree program and is pursing another degree, the grade level classification should be based on the participant’s grade level classification in the second-degree program.