Access the IPEDS Data API at https://educationdata.urban.org/api/v1/college-university/ (Urban Institute's IPEDS API wrapper) or directly via the IPEDS portal at https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/
Query completions data: GET https://educationdata.urban.org/api/v1/college-university/ipeds/completions/cip-level/ with query parameters year=2023, cipcode=110101 (for a specific 6-digit CIP) and fips=36 (for New York state) returns completion counts by institution
Parse the response: each record includes unitid (institutional IPEDS unit ID), cipcode, awlevel (award level: 1=certificate <1yr, 2=certificate 1-<2yr, 3=associate, 5=bachelor's, etc.), ctotalt (total completions), and ctotalm/ctotalw breakdowns
Cross-reference unitid with institution master data via GET https://educationdata.urban.org/api/v1/college-university/ipeds/directory/ to retrieve institution name, state, and accreditation status
Use completion trend data across multiple years to document program demand in state program approval applications; compare to SOC-level occupational projections from BLS for workforce alignment evidence
Handle pagination: the Urban Institute API returns results in pages of 1000; use next URL from the response metadata to fetch subsequent pages
Known gotchas
IPEDS completion data is released with a 12–18 month lag; data for academic year 2024-25 will not be available until late 2026, meaning recent program launches will not yet appear in IPEDS completions
The cipcode field in IPEDS uses a decimal format (e.g., 11.0101) while some state systems use a 6-digit integer format (110101) without the decimal; mismatches cause join failures when linking IPEDS data to crosswalk tables
Award level codes differ across IPEDS survey components; the awlevel field in Completions uses different numeric codes than the awlevel in Institutional Characteristics—always verify the code list for the specific survey component
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