Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP2000)
May 13, 2002
REVISED: June 12, 2003

NCES announces the release of CIP2000, the "Classification of Instructional Programs: 2000 Edition." The CIP is a taxonomic coding scheme that contains titles and descriptions of instructional programs, primarily at the postsecondary level. CIP was originally developed to facilitate NCES' collection and reporting of postsecondary degree completions, by major field of study, using standard classifications that capture the majority of program activity. The CIP: 2000 edition is the third revision of the CIP. It was originally published in 1980 and was revised in 1985 and again in 1990. The CIP is now the accepted federal government statistical standard for classifying instructional programs; in addition, the 2000 edition has been adopted by Statistics Canada as their standard field of study taxonomy.

The "Classification of Instructional Programs: 2000 Edition" is a portable data file (pdf) that can be downloaded and viewed using Adobe Acrobat. Click on the following link to access the document.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002165

Impact on IPEDS Reporting

The "Classification of Instructional Programs: 2000 Edition" includes changes to several 2-digit program areas and many new 6-digit programs that will impact the reporting of data to IPEDS. CIP2000 will be mandatory for reporting Fall 2004 Enrollment (Winter 2004-05 collection) and 2004-05 Completions (Fall 2005 collection). Enrollment data for 9 selected fields of study are collected in even-numbered years (from 4-year institutions only).

The new CIP was originally scheduled for optional use in reporting 2003-04 Completions data in fall 2004; however, optional use has been extended for reporting 2002-03 Completions data during the Fall 2003 collection. This allows institutions complying with SEVIS requirements to use CIP2000 when classifying programs for international students to convert Completions at the same time.

NOTE: When using CIP2000 for assigning program codes for SEVIS purposes, IPEDS is recommending use of "CIP = 00.0000" for international students entering institutions with undeclared majors. Since there is no actual 00.0000 program code, the code 00.0000 will not be found in the CIP 2000 document and will not impact the use of CIP2000 for other programs.