About BPS

The Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) follows several cohorts of students who enroll in postsecondary education for the first time. The study collects data on student persistence in and completion of postsecondary education programs, their transition to employment, demographic characteristics, and changes over time in their goals, marital status, income, and debt, among other indicators. BPS tracks students’ paths through postsecondary education and helps answer questions of policy interest, such as why students leave school, how financial aid influences persistence and completion, and what percentages of students complete various degree programs.

Survey Design and Methodology

BPS draws its initial cohorts from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), which uses a large, nationally representative sample of postsecondary students and institutions to examine how students pay for college. At present, there are three BPS cohorts, each drawn initially from NPSAS and then surveyed through BPS two and five years after their first enrollment in postsecondary education. The first BPS cohort of 8,000 students was drawn from the 1990 NPSAS and followed up through BPS in 1992 and 1994 (BPS:90/94). The second cohort (about 12,000 students) came from the 1996 NPSAS and was followed up in 1998 and 2001 (BPS:96/01), and the third cohort (about 19,000 students) was chosen from the 2004 NPSAS, with follow-ups conducted in 2006 and 2009 (BPS:04/09).