In California, studies of the flow of students from high schools to public postsecondary institutions and from community colleges to four-year colleges have been conducted annually since 1978. These studies have sought to identify trends in college-going rates; examine the gains and losses in these rates experienced by various counties in light of statewide trends; compare the ethnic distribution of high school graduates with that of first-time college freshmen; and to examine trends in community college transfer, comparing the ethnic distribution of transfers to that of first-time community college freshmen. Highlights of the 1981 study included the following: (1) college-going rates for recent high school graduates increased for the University of California, remained the same for the California State University, and decreased slightly for the community colleges; (2) the percentage of males enrolled as first-time freshmen in each segment of public higher education was slightly smaller than that of females; (3) the percentage of Hispanics continued to be smaller in the distribution of first-time freshmen than in the distribution of high school graduates, while the reverse was true for Blacks, Asians, American Indians, and Filipinos; and (4) the flow of community college transfers to independent institutions appeared to be declining. The bulk of the report consists of data tables, showing the flow of transfers, college-going rates by county and year, and sex and ethnic distributions. (KL)