Set up your data for IPEDS Completions processing

To use the produce_com_report function, your student completions data must be in the format described below

  • One row per person per degree level per cip per major
  • One IPEDS Unitid per file
  • Columns with values and types as described below (additional columns are allowed)

Note: Column names can use any capitalization method you like

Column Name Column Type Acceptable Value - Definition
Unitid Numeric (relevant unitid; xxxxxx)
StudentId Character or numeric (any unique identifier for your students)
RaceEthnicity Numeric 1 - Nonresident alien
2 - Hispanic/Latino
3 - American Indian or Alaska Native
4 - Asian
5 - Black or African American
6 - Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
7 - White
8 - Two or more races
9 - Race and ethnicity unknown
Sex Numeric 1 - Men
2 - Women
GenderDetail Numeric 1 - Men
2 - Women
3 - Unknown gender
4 - Another gender
DegreeLevel Character or Numeric 1a - Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma of
less than 300 clock hours or
less than 9 semester or trimester credit hours or
less than 13 quarter credit hours
1b - Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma of
300-899 clock hours or
9-30 semester or trimester credit hours, or
13-44 quarter credit hours
2 - Postsecondary award, certificate,or diploma of
at least 900 but less than 1800 clock hours or
at least 30 but less than 60 semester or trimester credit hours or
at least 45 but less than 90 quarter credit hours
3 - * Associate’s Degree
4 - Postsecondary award, certificate,or diploma of
1800 or more clock hours or
60 or more semester or trimester credit hours or
90 or more quarter credit hours
5 - * Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent
6 - Postbaccalaureate Certificate
7 - * Master’s Degree
8 - Post-Master’s Certificate
17 - * Doctor’s degree - research/scholarship
18 - * Doctor’s degree - professional practice
19 - * Doctor’s degree - Other
* Use only 3, 5, 7, 17, 18 and 19 when reporting second majors.
MajorNumber Numeric 1 - First Major
2 - Second Major
MajorCip Character or Numeric xx.yyyy or XXYYYY preferred (do not mix formats!),
x.yyy (etc) accepted
DistanceEd Numeric 1 - All programs in this CIP code/award level are distance education
2 - None of the programs in this CIP code/award level are distance education
3 - Some programs in this CIP code/award level are distance education
DistanceEd31 Numeric NULL - if DistanceEd is 1 or 2
0 - if DistanceEd is 3 and NO programs in this CIP code/award level have a mandatory onsite component
1 - if DistanceEd is 3 and at least one program in the CIP code/award level has a mandatory onsite component
DistanceEd32 Numeric NULL- if DistanceEd is 1 or 2
0 - if DistanceEd is 3 and NO programs in this CIP code/award level have a non-mandatory onsite component
1 - if DistanceEd is 3 and at least one program in the CIP code/award level has a non-mandatory onsite component
Age Numeric Demical or integer ages

If there are any cip code/degree level/major number combinations that are possible for students to obtain but are NOT represented in this year’s student completions data, use the format below to incorporate them into the make_com functions.

  • One row per degree level per cip per major
  • One IPEDS Unitid per file
  • Columns with values and types as described below (additional columns are allowed)
Column Name Column Type Acceptable Value - Definition
Unitid Numeric (relevant unitid; multiple unitids per dataframe is acceptable)
DegreeLevel Character or Numeric 1a - Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma of
less than 300 clock hours or
less than 9 semester or trimester credit hours or
less than 13 quarter credit hours
1b - Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma of
300-899 clock hours or
9-30 semester or trimester credit hours, or
13-44 quarter credit hours
2 - Postsecondary award, certificate,or diploma of
at least 900 but less than 1800 clock hours or
at least 30 but less than 60 semester or trimester credit hours or
at least 45 but less than 90 quarter credit hours
3 - * Associate’s Degree
4 - Postsecondary award, certificate,or diploma of
1800 or more clock hours or
60 or more semester or trimester credit hours or
90 or more quarter credit hours
5 - * Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent
6 - Postbaccalaureate Certificate
7 - * Master’s Degree
8 - Post-Master’s Certificate
17 - * Doctor’s degree - research/scholarship
18 - * Doctor’s degree - professional practice
19 - * Doctor’s degree - Other
* Use only 3, 5, 7, 17, 18 and 19 when reporting second majors.
DistanceEd31 Numeric NULL - if DistanceEd is 1 or 2
0 - if DistanceEd is 3 and NO programs in this CIP code/award level have a mandatory onsite component
1 - if DistanceEd is 3 and at least one program in the CIP code/award level has a mandatory onsite component
DistanceEd32 Numeric NULL- if DistanceEd is 1 or 2
0 - if DistanceEd is 3 and NO programs in this CIP code/award level have a non-mandatory onsite component
1 - if DistanceEd is 3 and at least one program in the CIP code/award level has a non-mandatory onsite component
MajorNumber Numeric 1 - First Major
2 - Second Major
MajorCip Character or Numeric xx.xxxx preferred,
x.xxx (etc) accepted
RaceEthnicity Numeric set all values to 1
Sex Numeric set all values to 1
Count Numeric set all values to 0