NACUBO Encourages Institutional Participation in NCES Study

November 6, 2003

NACUBO strongly encourages all member institutions that have been sampled to participate in the 2004 National Study of Faculty and Students (NsoFaS:04). The study is sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education and conducted by RTI International. It includes two component studies previously conducted separately – the 2004 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04) and the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04). These studies will be fielded together for this cycle to create greater efficiency in data collection and minimize burden to institutions. Individual institutions may be sampled for one or both components of the study.
NSoFaS and its component studies help the higher education community to understand faculty, student and institutional trends. NSOPF provides benchmark data that track change over time in the background, characteristics and workloads of faculty and instructional staff. NPSAS provides comprehensive data on how students and their families finance education after high school.
Although participation in these studies will require some commitment of staff time, NACUBO considers the burden to be relatively minor, given the value of the resulting data. Sampled institutions are asked to provide lists of students and/or instructional staff from which small samples of their entire faculty/student populations will be selected. In addition, if needed, RTI International can provide various forms of assistance to institutions in completing these surveys.
Data collection for NSoFaS:04 has already begun. Institutions that have not yet confirmed their participation are encouraged to do so and to provide the requested data within project timelines. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Anna Jackson at anna.jackson@nacubo.org or Brian Kuhr, project coordinator at RTI International, at (866) 676-3274. You may also contact the NSoFaS e-mail help address at nsofas2004@rti.org.