Technical Report:

Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study: Second Follow-up Field Test Report, 1996

May 1997

Highlights

1. An Overview of the Baccalaureate and Beyond Study

1.1 Purpose of the Study

The Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:93) tracks the experiences of a cohort of recent college graduates, more specifically, those who received the baccalaureate degree during the 1992-93 academic year and were first interviewed as part of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS). This group's experiences in the areas of academic enrollments, degree completions, employment, public service, and other adult decisions will be followed for about 12 years. Ultimately, B&B:93 will provide data to assess the outcomes of postsecondary education, graduate and professional program access, and rates of return on investment in education.

The (NCES) of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, is conducting B&B:93/97 in partial compliance with the mandate stated in section 404(a) of the National Education Statistics Act of 1994, Title IV of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, P.L. 103-382, which states:

The duties of the Center are to collect, analyze, and disseminate statistics and other information related to education in the United States and in other nations, including... collecting, acquiring, compiling..., and disseminating full and complete statistics on the condition and progress of education. at the pre-school, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels in the United States, including data on...

student achievement at all levels of education;...

educational access to and opportunity for postsecondary education, including data on financial aid to postsecondary students;

teaching, including data on course-taking, instruction, the conditions of the education workplace, and the supply of, and demand for, teachers, which may include data on the proportions of women and men, cross-tabulated by race or ethnicity, teaching in subjects in which such individuals have been historically under represented;

the learning and teaching environment; and...

conducting longitudinal studies as well as regular and special surveys and data collections, necessary to report on the condition and progress of education;...

At the request of the Office of Management and Budget, and of other federal agencies interested in longitudinal data on recent bachelor's degree recipients, the data collection has been planned to extend over a twelve year period.

1.2 Analytic Objectives

As the 1992-93 cohort of college and university bachelor’s degree graduates advance through adulthood the effects of undergraduate education will become increasingly important. These include the effects of attending different types of colleges and universities (comprising different undergraduate programs, curricula and levels of academic achievement), on outcomes such as access to jobs, graduate and professional programs, and the rates of return for the individual and society from investments in postsecondary education. For example, it will be important to determine how many college and university graduates require formal schooling beyond the baccalaureate degree to enter a desired career path or to continue working in a chosen field.

B&B:93/97 will provide data related to attainment and outcomes of postsecondary education (PSE). Specifically, B&B:93/97 will address issues in three major areas of educational policy: attainment, access to graduate and professional programs, and the rate of return on investments in education.

1) Attainment/outcome assessment. Continuing education, further degree completion, and entry into the work force are central to attainment and outcome assessment. Questions in this area include but are not limited to:

After completing a degree, how long does it take to enter the next level of graduate study or the work force? How many graduate degree recipients find work immediately that requires that level of education? How long does it typically take to obtain a position related to the field of study?

How often and for how long are people who completed a baccalaureate degree unemployed? Is unemployment related to field of study?

How does the level of educational debt incurred for the completion of undergraduate work affect decisions concerning graduate school, employment, and family formation?

2) Graduate/professional program access. When graduates decide to enter into graduate or professional school after completing the bachelor's degree they encounter many of the same access and choice questions they faced when they initially entered into postsecondary education. In many areas, people must complete the graduate program to fully participate in the field. In other areas, graduate education enhances the ability to advance in the area, but is not required. The concern, of course, is that those who wish to continue their education beyond the baccalaureate level have the opportunity to do so. Questions to be addressed in this area would include but not be limited to:

What are the rates of graduate school retention and completion?

Do people who entered graduate school immediately after they completed a baccalaureate degree continue to progress and complete advanced degrees as originally expected? How long does it take to complete a graduate degree program? Does this vary by field of study, school type, age, or time of first entry into a postsecondary program? Does this vary if entry is delayed?

Are those who wanted to enter graduate school after gaining some work experience able to do so when they planned, or are they further delayed? Do they carry out the original plan or later decide against graduate school? How long do they delay entry?

Do students who had no plans for graduate school when they completed the bachelor's degree later change their minds and attempt to enter? Do they have access they would have had if they had attempted to enter immediately? Are there additional difficulties associated when students decide later to enter graduate school?

Are people who were unable to enter graduate school immediately after completing the bachelor's degree able to do so later? How long does entry take if people initially delay it?

At what rate do students change their mind about entering graduate school?

3) Rate of return. Rate of return involves the concept of payoff, or the value of earning the degree, compared to the expenditures required to obtain it, both in terms of time and money. Rate of return can be viewed from two sides. For the individual, it can be viewed as monetary reward and personal satisfaction. For society, it can be viewed as the contribution a student makes through community involvement and public service (e.g., working in a public service area such as teaching, volunteer work, civic activity, or contributing in some other way to a societal need). For both the student and society, rate of return can also be viewed as the extent to which the student is adequately prepared to enter into work, civic, and cultural worlds with the ability to gain from and contribute to that experience. This study will look at rate of return both to the individual and to society. Questions to be addressed in this area would include but not be limited to:

Is there a difference in starting salary between those who first complete graduate school and those who do not? Is there a long term difference in salary?

How many people are eligible or qualified to enter a public service profession such as teaching? How many enter the work force full time in the area for which they are qualified? How long do they remain in that profession? Does this vary by level of degree?

Do those who enter public service positions advance in their jobs at the same rate as those in other areas? Does this vary by level of degree?

How frequently do degree completers change jobs or careers? Does this vary by level of degree? Does this vary by time since degree completion?

Does the degree to which people volunteer vary by degree completed? Does it vary by length of time since degree completion?

1.3 Study Design

The B&B:93/97 study is the second in a series of five followup interviews with a sample of over 11,000 persons who received a bachelor's degree in the 1992-1993 academic year. Baseline data for the B&B:93 cohort were collected as part of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:93). The first followup interview (B&B:93/94) collected information from respondents one year after they received their bachelor's degree, and collected undergraduate transcripts for each respondent. The second followup (B&B:93/97) will be conducted in the summer of 1997, four years after most respondents completed their undergraduate work.

Subsequent interviews will take place at four-year intervals. The cohort will be followed for a 12-year period so that most respondents who attend graduate or professional schools should have completed, or nearly completed, their education and be established in their careers.

1.4 B&B:93/96 Field Test

This report presents information on the Field Test that was conducted in the summer of 1996 in preparation for the main study, scheduled to begin in April, 1997. The field test follows a sample of 1,850 individuals who were selected as part of the NPSAS:92 field test and comprised the sample for the B&B:93 field test.

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For more information about the content of this report, contact Paula Knepper at Paula.Knepper@ed.gov.