The skilled technical workforce (STW) comprises workers in occupations that require significant science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) skills but not a bachelor's degree for entry. The United States had over 17 million STW workers in 2017, and is expected to be short about 3.4 million workers who are qualified for the available…

This research brief uses nationally representative data from the 2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17) to examine post-college transitions of US undergraduates into the skilled technical workforce (STW), defined here as workers in a collection of occupations that require significant levels of science, technology,…

In order to inform and improve policies and programs designed to assist low-income students, policymakers and academic scholars seek to understand the characteristics of this student population, how these students fare in college, and the challenges they face in persisting and completing a degree (Choy 2000; Perna 2015; Watson 2017). Recent…

Every year, millions of new college students arrive on campus lacking the necessary academic skills to perform at the college level. Postsecondary institutions address this problem with extensive remedial programs designed to strengthen students' basic skills. While much research on the effectiveness of remedial education has been conducted,…

Postsecondary education plays a critical role in building a strong workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The U.S. postsecondary education system, however, frequently loses many potential STEM graduates through attrition. An increasing portion of STEM leavers are top performers who might have made valuable…

This Statistics in Brief examines military service among 2002 high school sophomores and the postsecondary enrollment outcomes of those who had served in the military as of 2012, some 8 years after most completed high school in 2004. This cohort had just begun 10th grade when the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, occurred. As of 2012, some…

This Statistics in Brief focuses on students whose parents have not attended college and examines these students' high school success and postsecondary enrollment, persistence and degree completion once they enrolled in college, and graduate school enrollment and employment outcomes after they attained a bachelor's degree. Their outcomes are…

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…

This Data Point utilizes data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), a nationally representative, longitudinal study of more than 23,000 ninth-graders in 2009. HSLS:09 surveyed students, their parents, math and science teachers, school administrators, and school counselors. The study included information about students who were…

This Statistical Analysis Report tracks a cohort of 2002 high school sophomores over 10 years, examining the extent to which cohort members had reached such life course milestones as finishing school, starting a job, leaving home, getting married, and having children. The analyses in this report are based on data from the Education Longitudinal…

This First Look report presents selected findings from the Postsecondary Education Transcript Study and Student Financial Aid Records Collection (PETS-SR) of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). HSLS:09 follows a nationally representative sample of students who were ninth-graders in fall 2009 from high school into higher education…

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…

The "Science and Engineering Indicators" series was designed to provide a broad base of quantitative information about U.S. science, engineering, and technology for use by policymakers, researchers, and the general public. "Science and Engineering Indicators 2014" contains analyses of key aspects of the scope, quality, and…