A handbook of terms and definitions for describing students in postsecondary education includes technical and vocational schools as well as various forms of adult education and nontraditional study. Input was gathered from 40 national organizations and 29 federal agencies; 20 organizations and agencies provided field test sites. The guide's chapters include (1) an introduction, (2) student information items, and (3) data management and confidentiality of postsecondary student data. Its objective is to encourage standardization in the use of terms and definitions by the numerous agencies, institutions, and organizations that provide, set policy for, support, and/or regulate postsecondary education. Postsecondary data elements are organized according to three major classification divisions: demographic and biographical characteristics, student's educational experience, and student's employment experience. These divisions contain the information items most needed at various levels of postsecondary education organization for purposes of policy-making, or for planning, managing, operating, and evaluating postsecondary programs and/or institutions. The main divisions of the classification are also subdivided, and data elements within these subdivisions are combined with personal qualifiers to form information items that may be used to identify a person (e.g., student and family characteristics) and to describe various personal characteristics of that individual, for example. Additionally, general technical principles and procedures for safeguarding the confidentiality of student data are considered. The 14 appendices include: information item tables, information about uses of data elements about postsecondary students, codes for states and countries, fields of study and languages, standard occupational classification system, and information about relevant legislation. (SW)