U.S. Department of Education, Contracts and Purchasing Operations, CPO, 7th & D Streets SW, Room 3616, Washington, D.C. 20202-4443

B -- COLLEGE COST STUDY SOL RFP-99-R 0045 DUE 081799 POC Sang Park, (202) 708-8222, Contract Specialist The United States Department of Education has a requirement for the College Cost Study. The College Cost Study aims to discern, from a national sample of post secondary institutions, the relationbetween the costs of education to institutions and the prices (including subsidies such as a financial aid)paid for that education by students. On the cost side, the study considers all the elements that contribute to capitalization and operation of the institution, collecting financial and other data in whatever way the institution keeps them and rendering the information into a common framework. On the price side, the study assigns prices to all the elements that contribute to a student's quality of life while attending a college or university, and also considers the extent to which subsidies modify prices. The FIRST PHASE will be a FEASIBILITY STUDY. The purpose of the first phase is to assess the possibility of formulating a model, collecting data, and undertaking the statistical analysis to address the questions Congress has requested. If the results of the first phase suggest that it is in the Government's interest to conduct the second phase, then a much larger scale data collection will be undertaken in the optional second phase of the study. The optional SECOND PHASE of the study will involve a FULL SCALE DATA COLLECTION effort. The method of data collection will be a computer assisted institutional data collection protocol (IDCP) that will collect data primarily found in the administrative records of the sampled institutions, augmented by interviews with institutional personnel. This study will culminate in Congressionally mandated report to de delivered to Congress by September 30, 2002. RFP ED-99-R-0045 will be issued on or about 08/17/99. The closing date is 09/16/99. Request for copies of the RFP may be made by telephone, mail, E-mail, telegram or in person. All requests shall reference RFP ED 99-R-0045 and the title of the RFP. The Request for Proposal can also be found on the Internet on or about the RFP issue data at http://gcs.ed.gov or gopher://gcs.ed.gov. Telephone request may only be placed by calling 202/708-6498. E-mail requests shall be sent to Yolanda_Abney@ed.gov. Mail or telegram requests shall be sent to the above address. Copies may be picked up in person on the issue data at the same address. All proposals submitted by responsible sources will be considered. Posted 08/03/99 (I-SN362518). (0215)

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