Enrollment, Financial Aid, and Census Data: What Students Should Know

Why should a student care about the census date?
The term “census date” is typically something students at colleges and universities do not even know about. It’s the one day each semester where the College captures a snapshot of your enrollment and all kinds of data points, like whether or not you’re an athlete, what major you are, what percent of your classes you are taking online, etc. So, think of this as something the College does behind the scenes for a number of reasons, mainly related to compliance and internal data analysis.

How does the census date impact the student’s experience at GBC?
There should be no impact of census date on your experience at the College. To make sure that’s the case, we work hard to finalize your schedule, financial aid, and tuition bill before the start of the semester. If you are planning ahead, completing tasks on time (like registering for classes), and making sure to keep an eye on your GBC email for important communications, you won’t even know there is a census date! That’s how you’d like it, that’s also how we’d like it – a hidden, behind the scenes thing that happens without you even knowing. However, the most negative impact of not finalizing your enrollment by census is the Financial Aid Freeze Date.

What is a Financial Aid Freeze Date? Why does it matter?
The College is required by federal regulations to freeze your enrollment on the official reporting date for the semester (aka census day). Your financial aid is finalized as of that date. Meaning, if you add courses later, you won’t be able to increase your student loans, Pell Grant, or scholarships – and that will result in you owing more than you anticipated for the semester.

What does the College use the census date data for?
We use census data for two things: Internal data tracking and external data reporting. No, we aren’t communicating all of the things about you, there are privacy and information laws preventing that (FERPA). But, we’re required to report aggregated data to various government entities like “how many students are enrolled at Goldey-Beacom College”, and “How many students are enrolled in exclusively online courses” for compliance purposes. Every college and university is required to report data, census data is what we use to ensure it’s accurate. When it comes to internal data tracking, we look at things like “what are our 5 most popular majors” and “how many new students from Del Tech did we enroll this semester”. This helps measure performance and effectiveness of different initiatives we have to make sure we’re a thriving and responsive college.

Were there any interesting trends from the census date data files pulled last year?
Time will tell! Census for this Fall is on September 22, so the Office of Institutional Effectiveness will publish a report on different trends that are identified. In the past, things like adding a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology would increase the number of graduate students that are enrolled; and expanding online course offerings would naturally mean more students taking online courses. These are the kinds of things that we identify to ensure we’re staying on top of the facts on the ground.

When are the census dates for this academic year?
The census dates are published in the College’s add/drop policy. They are September 22, February 9, and June 8 for Fall, Spring, and Summer respectively.

What happens if I fail to complete enrollment by the census date?
Good news: There are many sessions within our semesters. That means you can add and drop courses throughout the semester in accordance with our policy. Bad news: Pay attention to the financial aid freeze date. If you add classes too late you won’t be eligible for increased financial aid amounts, AND you’ll need to pay a $50 late registration fee.

Who should I talk to if I have questions about the census date?
Any of the staff in the Registrar’s Office, Financial Aid Office, Advising Office, and Office of Institutional Effectiveness can answer your questions about the census date.

Anything else students should know about the census date?
Even though there are all kinds of sessions at the College (1-week, 5-week, 8-week, 15-week), there is one census date. That’s the day we look at your enrollment as “finalized”; meaning the most important thing is to register for classes on time.