The "Opening Fall Enrollment in Institutions of Higher Education" machine-readable data file (MRDF), often simply called the "Fall Enrollment" file, is a component survey of the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS). It has been conducted annually since 1966. Survey forms are sent to all colleges and universities (and their branches) located in the United States and its outlying territories. Typically, forms are sent to 3,000-3,500 institutions and a response rate of over 90% results in over 3,000 records on the final file. Records for non-responding institutions are imputed (when possible) or zero-filled. Data are collected on the number of full-time and part-time male or female students enrolled at the various academic levels (lower division, upper division, professional, graduate, etc.), including full-time entering students. These data are required by legislative and executive agencies of government (federal, state, and local), as well as by accrediting agencies, professional organizations, and researchers conducting comparative studies. Beginning in 1976, this survey was coordinated with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) so that in even-numbered years social/ethnic data are also requested (for a detailed description of this compliance data, see UD 025 968). Each year's records are maintained on magnetic tape in sequence by Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE) numeric code for each institution. Each record contains basic institutional data (drawn from the HEGIS Institutional Characteristics file), followed by survey data, followed in turn by generated or summary data. POPULATION: U.S. Higher Education Institutions (> 3,300). TYPE OF SURVEY: Census Survey; National Survey. RESPONDENTS: Survey Coordinators for Institutions of Higher Education. FREQUENCY: Annual (Civil rights compliance data added biennially). YEAR OF FIRST DATA: 1966. (CDM/WTB)