Quality of Data Reported through the Department’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Surveys by Joliet Junior College

Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), requires postsecondary schools participating in Title IV programs to annually report data, including data relevant to students’ cost of attendance and financial aid and the schools’ graduation rates, to the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to the satisfaction of the Secretary. The objective of our inspection was to determine whether Joliet Junior College (JJC) reported verifiable data to IPEDS for the 2021–2022 reporting period. We found that JJC did not always report verifiable data to IPEDS for the 2021–2022 reporting period. The total amount of grant and scholarship aid that JJC students received for the 2021–2022 reporting period and the number of full-time undergraduate students who were enrolled in the fall of 2021 and seeking their first postsecondary certificate or degree that the school reported to IPEDS were not verifiable. In addition, the number of students who were full-time undergraduate students who began attending the school during academic year 2019–2020, were seeking their first postsecondary certificate or degree, and completed their program of study by the end of academic year 2021–2022 (150 percent of the normal time) that JJC reported to IPEDS were not verifiable. While not all reported financial aid and program completion data were verifiable, the average tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, and other expenses charged to full-time undergraduate students who were seeking their first certificate or degree that the school reported to IPEDS for the 2021–2022 reporting period were verifiable. JJC did not always report verifiable data to IPEDS because it did not update and implement procedures for collecting, consolidating, assessing the reliability of, and reporting data to IPEDS.