Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Series

The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) is the largest ongoing national study of college students in the United States. Initiated in 1966 by the American Council on Education (ACE) and transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1973 under the continuing sponsorship of ACE, CIRP annually surveys entering freshman classes at a national sample of colleges and universities. Each annual survey produces national norms describing the characteristics of new college freshmen, and the data generated by the survey provide a basis for national longitudinal studies of a wide variety of educational problems and issues. A typical annual survey involves the entering freshmen classes (N = 300,000 students) at approximately 600 two-year colleges, four-year colleges, and universities. These data are subsequently used to produce individual reports for participating institutions and national norms, by sex, for different types of institutions.

For more information, please see CIRP Freshman Survey.