Postsecondary Enrollment, Outcomes, and Subgroup Trends
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center will produce annual publications on postsecondary enrollment, outcomes, and subgroup trends to gauge progress in pandemic recovery and identify the places and populations that are in greatest need of intervention. In addition to reports, the Research Center will create interactive data dashboards to allow users to drill down on specific student demographic subgroups, institution types, and states of interest.
The Research Center has been publishing reports on postsecondary enrollment, progress, transfer, and completion since 2011. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Research Center accelerated its reporting to address the pressing needs of the education community for timely information about COVID-19’s impact on students and institutions. The Current Term Enrollment Estimates report series provides updates each fall and spring on the most up-to-date enrollment trends, and the Transfer, Mobility, and Progress series provides regular updates on transfer students.Â
As part of the ARCC Network, the Research Center will enhance these publications, with a focus on key metrics related to recovery for community colleges and their students, the sector hardest hit by the pandemic. Together, these publications will shed light on the progress of community colleges in reengaging and serving students as they recover from the pandemic and ensure that policymakers and the public have access to trusted, objective, and timely data on the post-pandemic recovery.Â
This project is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305X220022 to Teachers College, Columbia University.
Publications
Transfer Enrollment and Pathways: Fall 2024 Report
NSC Research Center | March 2025
This report combines information on current term transfer rates with data on community college students who reach transfer and completion milestones within six years. Detailed data on postsecondary participation, mobility, and progress among economically disadvantaged students is included, as well as disaggregated data on disparities in pandemic recovery and transfer outcomes across differing student and institutional characteristics.
Current Term Enrollment Estimates: Fall 2024
NSC Research Center | January 2025
This report uses interactive data dashboards to provide the latest college enrollment estimates and detailed information on enrollment by credential level, age, and major field. The updated data also provide information on students immediately enrolling after high school, institutions’ share of Pell recipients, students’ neighborhood income, and more.
Transfer and Progress: Fall 2023 Report
NSC Research Center | February 2024
This report combines information on current term transfer rates with data on community college students who reach transfer and completion milestones within six years. Detailed data on postsecondary participation, mobility, and progress among economically disadvantaged students is included, as well as disaggregated data on disparities in pandemic recovery and transfer outcomes across differing student and institutional characteristics.
Current Term Enrollment Estimates: Fall 2023
NSC Research Center | January 2024
This dashboard-based report provides the latest college enrollment estimates along with new analyses of students’ neighborhood income background, enrollment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), community college enrollment by transfer or vocational program focus, and trends by institution locale, along with more detailed information on enrollment by credential level, age, and major field.
Transfer and Progress: Fall 2022 Report
NSC Research Center | March 2023
This report combines information on current term transfer rates with data on community college students who reach transfer and completion milestones within six years. It also expands on previous transfer reports with additional levels of disaggregation and introduces a new experimental measure of students’ income background. An accompanying data dashboard is available.
Current Term Enrollment Estimates: Fall 2022 (Expanded Edition)
NSC Research Center | February 2023
This dashboard-based report provides the latest college enrollment estimates and features new analyses of race and ethnicity, undergraduate and graduate enrollment by major field at the state level, and institutional selectivity.
Lead Researchers
Doug Shapiro, Ph.D., is vice president, research, of the National Student Clearinghouse and executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. As part of his work for the Research Center, he established over a dozen new reports, with metrics on student access, persistence, transfer, and completion. He can be reached at shapiro@studentclearinghouse.org.
