What are CIP Codes and Why Were They Updated?
Originally developed by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 1980, Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes are assigned to every academic plan in SIS as a way to enable an “apples to apples” comparison of programs across the country, since relying on the institutional program names don’t always align. Every time we report a student’s enrollment or degree status to UW System or the National Student Clearinghouse, or a student is awarded a Pell Grant or is dispersed a student loan, the degree program they’re pursuing is reported using the CIP code assigned to it.
NCES releases an update to the CIP code structure every ten years and the sixth edition of the codes were released in 2020, containing more than 300 new programs of study. Preparing to implement the 2020 CIP code release at UW–Madison involved several offices, who began collaborating in July of 2019 to create a project plan outlining the steps that needed to be taken to ensure a seamless transition to the new CIP Codes.
The Office of Academic Planning & Institutional Research reviewed the 2020 CIP Codes and the existing CIP Codes assigned to UW–Madison’s academic plans, and identified 14 plans that needed to be updated with a new 2020 CIP Code.
Within the Office of the Registrar, the Applications Development & Technical Services team performed a data comparison of the Oracle-released 2020 and 2010 CIP Code tables and then loaded the table to ensure that no orphaned data would occur with the update. The Curricular & Academic Management Services team updated the academic structure tables with the identified CIP 2020 codes, effective for the Fall 2020 term. The Student Services team identified the 630 students declared in plans for which a CIP Code update was made and coordinated with the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) to submit and mitigate issues with the Fall 2020 enrollment file.
The Office of Student Financial Aid began originating in June 2020 for the 2020-2021 award year and ensured all Fall 2020 aid records were originated using the 2020 CIP Codes, which had not yet taken effect in SIS. OSFA reports individual student information, including a student’s program CIP Code, to the US Department of Education’s Common Origination & Disbursement (COD) which in turn communicates with the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). OSFA also monitors student enrollment and program status in NSLDS to ensure student benefits are maintained during enrollment, grace period, and repayment.
Despite a delay in the National Student Clearinghouse’s ability to accept the new CIP codes, this collaborative effort to prepare for and implement the new code structure positioned UW–Madison to be fully compliant with the federal requirement to utilize 2020 CIP codes.