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This set of Web Tables is the second in a series of four that together provide key information about 2011-12 first-time postsecondary students' characteristics and their 6-year retention, persistence, attainment, withdrawal, stopout, and transfer rates. The series draws on data collected for the 2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17)--a nationally representative longitudinal sample survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)--which followed first-time students for 6 years after they began their postsecondary education. This second set of tables focuses on 6-year retention and attainment rates at the first institution students attended. The tables indicate the percentage of 2011-12 first-time postsecondary students who attained a certificate, an associate's degree, or a bachelor's degree by spring 2017 at the institution where they first enrolled. If they had not attained a credential at the first institution, these tables specify whether they were still enrolled at the first institution, had enrolled at a different institution, or had not enrolled at any institution after leaving the first institution. This publication first presents these retention and attainment rates at the first institution for all first-time postsecondary students (tables 1.1-A through 1.1-D). The following tables show rates for first-time postsecondary students attending institutions that vary by control (i.e., public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit) and level (i.e., less-than-2-year, 2-year, or 4-year). Tables 1.2-A through 1.2-D report rates for first-time postsecondary students who began at public 2-year colleges. Tables 1.3-A through 1.3-D and 1.4-A through 1.4-D present estimates for those who began at public and private nonprofit 4-year institutions. Subsequent tables focus on first-time postsecondary students' retention and attainment rates at different levels of private for-profit institutions, specifically, less-than-2-year institutions (tables 1.5-A through 1.5-D); 2-year institutions (tables 1.6-A through 1.6-D); and 4-year institutions (tables 1.7-A through 1.7-D). The final two sets of tables focus on 2011-12 first-time postsecondary students who began a bachelor's degree program at public (tables 1.8-A through 1.8-D) and at private nonprofit 4-year (tables 1.9-A through 1.9-D) institutions and present the percentages who completed a bachelor's degree at the first institution in 4 years or less, 5 years, or 6 years. [For the first set of Web Tables in this series, see ED607116.]

This First Look report presents selected findings from transcript data collected through the Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS) for the 2011-12 cohort of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12). The students in the 2011-12 cohort were selected during the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), a cross-sectional study focused on student financial aid. The selected students were nationally representative of undergraduates who entered postsecondary education for the first time in the 2011-12 academic year. The purpose of this report is to illustrate the range of information available in the PETS data. The selected findings present examples of the estimates that can be obtained from the data and are not intended to address any particular issue.

The 2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17), conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at the U.S. Department of Education, is the second follow-up of students who began postsecondary education in the 2011-12 academic year. BPS:12/17 draws from the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12) to create a nationally representative sample of first-time beginning (FTB) undergraduate students. BPS is designed to cover topics pertaining to student persistence and attainment in postsecondary education, and transition into the workforce. The study includes student surveys as well as the collection of administrative data from institutions where the students were enrolled and from other relevant data sources, including U.S. Department of Education records on student financial aid. The data collected in this second follow-up are intended to provide researchers and policymakers with key information on persistence and attainment in the sixth academic year after students' initial enrollment in postsecondary education. [For the "2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12)," see ED545104.]

This First Look report presents selected findings from the 2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17), a nationally representative survey of undergraduates who entered postsecondary education for the first time in the 2011-12 academic year. BPS:12/17 covers the experiences of these first-time beginning postsecondary students over 6 academic years, 2011-12 through 2016-17, and provides information about students' demographic backgrounds; enrollment characteristics; transfer experiences; persistence in and completion of postsecondary education programs; transition into employment; and changes over time in their education and career goals, income level, and debt amount, among other indicators. This report provides a first look at students' persistence, retention, and attainment over 6 years, showing the rates at which students had completed postsecondary credentials, the rates at which they had persisted through or left postsecondary education without earning any credential as of spring 2017, and the rates at which they remained in the first institution in which they were enrolled. Both overall rates and rates disaggregated by key enrollment and student characteristics are shown in the tables. The purpose of this report is to illustrate the range of information available in BPS:12/17. The selected findings present examples of the estimates that can be obtained from the data and are not intended to emphasize any particular issue. Readers are cautioned not to make causal inferences about the data presented here. Many of the variables examined are related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships have not been explored.

This report describes the methods and results for the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), conducted for the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Washington, DC. The following legislation authorizes this and previous cycles of NPSAS, as well as two longitudinal studies deriving from it--the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) and the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B): (1) the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, 20 U.S.C. § 1015(a) (2012); (2) the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, 20 U.S.C. §§ 9541 to 9548 (2012); and (3) the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1070 et seq. (2012). This cycle of NPSAS occurs 4 years after the last data collection (NPSAS:08) in response to the need to collect periodic information on financial aid programs. The large-scale and rapid changes in federal policy concerning postsecondary student aid necessitate such frequent studies. Eligibility restrictions change, size of grant and loan amounts fluctuate, and the balance between various aid options can change dramatically. Student loan programs create continued obligations for the federal government as long as the loans are being repaid, thus a recurring study like NPSAS is essential to help predict future costs for financial aid. Chapter 1 of this report provides an overview of the background and purpose of NPSAS, as well as the study design and its schedule and products. Chapter 2 describes the sampling design and the steps NPSAS statisticians used to select institution and student samples. Chapter 3 describes the design, outcomes, and evaluation activities associated with institution data collection. Chapter 4 provides details on the student interview design, data collection, outcomes and evaluations. Chapter 5 includes information on the student administrative records matching activities and outcomes. Chapter 6 contains a description of postdata collection data file processing, including editing, weighting, imputation, bias analysis, and variance estimation. For the following appendices (A-I), see ED545104: (A) Technical Review Panel; (B) Sampling Details; (C) Data Elements for Student Records; (D) NPSAS Endorsements; (E) Institution Data Collection Materials; (F) Data Elements for Student Interview; (G) Student Interview Instrument Facsimiles; (H) Student Data Collection Materials; and (I) Training Agenda. For the remainder of the appendices (J-O), see ED545103: (J) Nonresponse Bias Analysis; (K) Weighted Analysis Considerations; (L) Design Effects; (M) Imputations; (N) Analysis Variables; and (O) NPSAS:12 Field Test.

This brief report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2011-12 academic year. These findings are based on data from the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), a nationally representative sample survey of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled any time between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012, in institutions eligible to participate in federal financial aid programs. The primary purpose of NPSAS:12 is to measure how students and their families pay for postsecondary education, with particular emphasis on federal student aid provided through Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and subsequent amendments. The NPSAS:12 sample consists of about 95,000 undergraduate and 16,000 graduate students attending approximately 1,500 Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.The sample represents approximately 26 million undergraduate and 4 million graduate students enrolled in postsecondary education at any time between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012. This report classifies financial aid by type and source. Eligibility for federal need-based aid is largely determined by the student's family income, which is defined differently for dependent and independent students.The following are appended: (1) Glossary; (2) NPSAS:12 Technical Notes and Methodology; and (3) Revised Student Financial Aid Estimates for the 2007-08 National Postsecondary Study Aid Study (NPSAS:08). (Contains 30 tables and 15 footnotes.)

The College Course Map (CCM) is a taxonomy system for coding postsecondary education courses in NCES research studies. Originally developed in 1988 in support of the postsecondary transcript study in the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72), the taxonomy was updated in 1993 for the High School and Beyond Study (HS&B) and again in 2000 for the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS:88/00) (Adelman, 2005). The 2010 College Course Map (CCM:2010) was updated in 2009 in support of two postsecondary education transcript collections. The 2009 Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS:09) incorporated transcript collections for the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Education Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) and the 2008/09 Baccalaureate and Beyond Study (B&B:08/09). This publication describes how the newest version of the College Course Map was updated and provides a listing of all the course codes used for PETS:09. (Contains 2 figures and 1 footnote.)