Thanks for the very prompt answer! That seems like it sort of does what I want - however, once I leave the course, I want to have the system continue to work - and future Admins probably wont have access to Acrobat Pro, or the technical knowledge to send out looking for responses. Nor is there a sharepoint (or equivalent drive) to set. Perhaps some further explanation is required.
There are multiple classes going on at one time, and each class gets a folder on a standalone machine, with a different Admin in charge of each class. When one graduates, another one fills in behind them a week or so afterwards. So what I need is a "template" file for student data, and a template "Master list" that pulls from all of the student data PDFs in that folder, locally, without the Master list having to send out requests for information. That way, when a new class starts, the students can email in their student data, the Admin can pop them all in a folder with a blank Master List template, and when the admin opens the Master list, it populates with all the data from the student sheets.
Hopefully that is a little clearer, and hopefully doable! It really needs to be pretty darn simple. We used to do it in Excel, and gave each student a tab where we copy/pasted their basic data - and a crosslinked sheet pulled it into the master list. Alas, that looked unprofessional and sometimes was very troublesome when the students altered the Excel form in any way or put things in the wrong cells.
Thanks!