Skip to main content

National Student Clearinghouse

Categories: Labor markets; longitudinal databases

Overview: The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center collaborates with higher education institutions, states, school districts, high schools, and educational organizations to better inform education leaders and policymakers. The Research Center focuses on longitudinal data outcomes reporting. The StudentTracker and StudentTracker for High Schools tools allow for institutions of higher education or high school districts to track student performance, enrollment, and graduation data.

Unit of Analysis: Student

Coverage and Size: 3,300 colleges and universities, enrolling over 94% of all students in public and private U.S. institutions

Form: Longitudinal microdatabase

Timeframe: Enrollment records are generally available from 2000 onward. Degree coverage is available from 1990 onward.

Frequency: Enrollment and degree information is obtained every 30-45 days

Data Collection Method: Participating collegiate institutions provide enrollment and degree records. StudentTracker matches records across the institutions’ submissions to provide annual updates on current, former, or prospective students.

Key Data Education Outcomes That Can Be Tracked:

StudentTracker College and University StudentTracker for High Schools:
  • Real time reporting on all currently enrolled students
  • Ability to track transfer and student persistence in postsecondary education
  • Students graduating each year
  • Students moving from and undergraduate degree to into graduate programs
  • Interstate college student mobility

 
  • Allows high schools, school districts, regional consortia and states to follow the enrollment activities of graduates, including:
    • Immediate or delayed college/university enrollment
    • Persistence, degree attainment, & time to college graduation
    • Potential for comparative benchmarking reports on performance of high schools and school districts

Access: No anonymized data sets are available for open research use. Access to student level data is limited to directory information. Researchers must contact the NSC Research Center and provide information on the purpose, scope, and feasibility of the research to be granted access.

Potential Uses for Regional Analysis: University and college enrollment, time to graduate and persistence metrics can help capture the in- or out-migration of high school graduates, as well as the concentration of college graduates within a region.

For Additional Information:

Print Friendly, PDF & Email