Preparing an accurate population file is the most important step in preparing for your NSSE survey administration. Exacting standards for population files are necessary to ensure valid and representative data, as well as meaningful institutional comparisons. All students from the list will be invited to participate.

NSSE is designed to collect the experiences of all bachelor’s degree-seeking students classified as first-year students or graduating seniors according to credit hour, not just full-time students in the traditional 18- to 24-year-old age range.

The required first-year student population is intentionally broader than the first-time, first-year student definition used on some campuses. Include all students classified as first-year students according to cumulative credit hours earned.

• All first-year students must be (a) enrolled in the Fall semester prior to the Spring survey administration and (b) expected to be classified as first-year students during the Spring semester according to institutions' official records. Include any Fall semester credit hours being attempted or earned in this calculation but, if possible, exclude any Advanced Placement (AP) credits or other college credits earned prior to completing high school.

Senior students must be (a) enrolled during the Fall semester and (b) considered a probable graduate by the following Spring or Summer. For most institutions, seniors will be within 6 to 8 courses of graduation (based on semesters) at the time the population file is created during the Fall but use your own institutional guidelines to determine likely graduating seniors. 

Include in the population file:

• Traditional age students and adult learners
• Full-time and part-time students
• Commuters and on-campus residents
• Distance education and online students
• Students from all campuses and institutions sharing the same IPEDS number

Do not include in the population file:

• Students enrolled in professional programs such as pharmacy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, etc., that terminate as master’s or doctoral degrees without earning a bachelor’s degree along the way.
• Students on branch campuses associated with a different IPEDS number. Campuses with distinct IPEDS numbers must administer NSSE independently.

What about transfer credits?
Please attempt to confirm transfer credits before creating your population file. If transfer credits are not processed before population file submission, include anticipated students and you can update the population file with revised eligibility status via a population file update starting in January.

Special Note: If your institution uses non-traditional enrollment or class-level status, like those of many online institutions, please contact your NSSE Team before creating your file.

Required fields: a unique student ID number; first and last name; email address; class level; full-time or part-time enrollment status; sex, and birth year.

Optional but recommended fields: race/ethnicity, ACT or SAT scores, up to five group variables of your choosing, and the Report Sample indicator.

Download the template from the Institution Interface, use the pre-designated column headers, and upload your file in csv file format. Submit the population file using the Institution Interface only. Do not email files containing student records to NSSE; any files sent by email will be immediately deleted.

You can submit files at different times during survey preparation and administration.

Submit your first population file using the provided template during customization in the fall.

A feature to update the file opens in late January. The update feature allows you to update information for students provided in the original file. The most common field updated is “eligibility” (used to remove students who are no longer first-year or senior students as defined in these instructions), but all fields except Student ID can be revised if necessary.

Note that new students cannot be added to the file via the update process since the population file is intended only for students enrolled in both fall and spring terms. 

You can continue to update eligibility through April.

• If available, provide both institution-provided and personal email addresses for each student in the “Primary email address” and “Secondary email address” columns respectively; NSSE will utilize both to optimize message delivery. If you choose to provide only one, use the one you believe students are more likely to use.
• Include domain names (e.g., studentname@iu.edu).

Use “FT” to identify full-time students and “PT” to identify part-time students. The definition of “full-time” and “part-time” should be determined by your own institution’s guidelines.

Designate race/ethnicity for each student using the following three-letter abbreviations:

IND American Indian or Alaska Native
ASI Asian
AFR Black or African American
HIS Hispanic or Latino
HPI Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
WHI White
FOR Foreign or Nonresident alien
MUL Two or more races/ethnicities
UNK Unknown

The abbreviations above are valid for U.S. institutions only; Canadian participants should not submit race in their NSSE population file but may instead add race codes to NSSE data files independently. Incorrect abbreviations will not be recognized and will result in missing values for race in your NSSE data file.

Use “Y” or “Yes” to identify students who you would like included in your reports. Use “N” or “No” to exclude students from reports. Leave this column empty if you do NOT want to restrict your report sample.

Important Considerations if Using Report Sample:

• If you choose to leave the Report Sample column empty, all students will be included in reports by default.
• Oversampled students are not included in reports by default, so you do not need to use Report Sample to exclude OS students from reports.
• Results will be unweighted for institutions that use this option because weights are based on an institution’s full population.
• Keep in mind that longitudinal analyses (including the Multi-Year Report) are affected when report samples are drawn differently between years.

Use the fields in the table below to submit standardized test scores. Scoring for the SAT changed in March 2016 and both older and newer scores may be submitted in NSSE population files. We advise checking your data against the score ranges listed below before making your submission. If a student has multiple sets of scores, simply provide the most recent set.

Institutions may include additional fields for their own post hoc analyses. Examples of group data used by other institutions include honors college enrollment, participation in TRIO programs, and flagging students in learning communities.

Up to five “Group” fields are allowed. Column headers must be marked “Group1,” “Group2,” etc., so it is imperative that you keep record of values for group fields.
Note: The NSSE Report Builder enables schools to generate tailored online reports using their data. If you are interested in having your Group1 variable integrated into this tool so you can disaggregate your NSSE results even further, please refer to these additional instructions.

Identifier for current year BCSSE participants only.

Institutions that participated in the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE) this past summer may include the unique BCSSE survey identification number—“bsurvid”—for their BCSSE respondents. bsurvid is found in the BCSSE data you received this fall and facilitates BCSSE-NSSE comparisons in your Institutional Report.

If no bsurvid is provided when submitting a population file, NSSE staff will attempt to match the BCSSE and NSSE data using available information (e.g., student ID). Matches will be identified in a download file available from the population file update feature that opens before data collection. Achieving a complete and accurate match may require assistance from your institution. NSSE will contact institutions with few or no bsurvid matches.

If you want to include students who are not first-year or senior students, identify them with a “Y” in a column labeled “oversample.” You will be asked to specify details of your oversample request at the time of population file upload. There is an additional fee for oversample.

NOTE: Once students are identified as part of an oversample they cannot be moved back into the standard sample. For example, do not use oversample designation for junior students who you think may become graduating seniors in the spring. Contact your NSSE Team for assistance.