IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/19552.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Missing Manual: Using National Student Clearinghouse Data to Track Postsecondary Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Susan M. Dynarski
  • Steven W. Hemelt
  • Joshua M. Hyman

Abstract

This paper explores the promises and pitfalls of using National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data to measure a variety of postsecondary outcomes. We first describe the history of the NSC, the basic structure of its data, and recent research interest in using NSC data. Second, using information from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we calculate enrollment coverage rates for NSC data over time, by state, institution type, and demographic student subgroups. We find that coverage is highest among public institutions and lowest (but growing) among for-profit colleges. Across students, enrollment coverage is lower for minorities but similar for males and females. We also explore two potentially less salient sources of non-coverage: suppressed student records due to privacy laws and matching errors due to typographic inaccuracies in student names. To illustrate how this collection of measurement errors may affect estimates of the levels and gaps in postsecondary attendance and persistence, we perform several case-study analyses using administrative transcript data from Michigan public colleges. We close with a discussion of practical issues for program evaluators using NSC data.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan M. Dynarski & Steven W. Hemelt & Joshua M. Hyman, 2013. "The Missing Manual: Using National Student Clearinghouse Data to Track Postsecondary Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 19552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19552
    Note: CH ED LS
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w19552.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Susan Dynarski & Joshua Hyman & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2013. "Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Childhood Investments on Postsecondary Attainment and Degree Completion," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 692-717, September.
    2. Thomas J. Kane, 2003. "A Quasi-Experimental Estimate of the Impact of Financial Aid on College-Going," NBER Working Papers 9703, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Bound, John & Brown, Charles & Mathiowetz, Nancy, 2001. "Measurement error in survey data," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 59, pages 3705-3843, Elsevier.
    4. Philip Oreopoulos & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2011. "Priceless: The Nonpecuniary Benefits of Schooling," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 159-184, Winter.
    5. Philip Oreopoulos & Uros Petronijevic, 2013. "Making College Worth It: A Review of Research on the Returns to Higher Education," NBER Working Papers 19053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Joshua Hyman, 2017. "ACT for All: The Effect of Mandatory College Entrance Exams on Postsecondary Attainment and Choice," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(3), pages 281-311, Summer.
    7. J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), 2001. "Handbook of Econometrics," Handbook of Econometrics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 5, number 5.
    8. Eric P. Bettinger & Bridget Terry Long & Philip Oreopoulos & Lisa Sanbonmatsu, 2009. "The Role of Simplification and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block FAFSA Experiment," NBER Working Papers 15361, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eric Bettinger & Oded Gurantz & Laura Kawano & Bruce Sacerdote, 2016. "The Long Run Impacts of Merit Aid: Evidence from California’s Cal Grant," NBER Working Papers 22347, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Scott Carrell & Bruce Sacerdote, 2017. "Why Do College-Going Interventions Work?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 124-151, July.
    3. Kelley, Clare & Lanot, Gauthier, 2002. "Consumption Patterns Over Pay Periods," Economic Research Papers 269469, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    4. Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Hill, Terrence D., 2015. "Leaving school in an economic downturn and self-esteem across early and middle adulthood," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-12.
    5. Celhay, Pablo A. & Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio & Riquelme, Cristina, 2024. "When a strike strikes twice: Massive student mobilizations and teenage pregnancy in Chile," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    6. Dan A. Black, 2009. "Comment on "The Role of Fringe Benefits in Employer and Workforce Dynamics"," NBER Chapters, in: Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, pages 505-509, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Dongwoo Kim & Daniel Wilhelm, 2024. "Powerful t-tests in the presence of nonclassical measurement error," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(6), pages 345-378, July.
    8. David Deming & Susan Dynarski, 2009. "Into College, Out of Poverty? Policies to Increase the Postsecondary Attainment of the Poor," NBER Working Papers 15387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Timothy J. Bartik & Brad J. Hershbein & Marta Lachowska, 2015. "The Effects of the Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship on College Enrollment, Persistence, and Completion," Upjohn Working Papers 15-228, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    10. Howell, Jessica S. & Pender, Matea, 2016. "The costs and benefits of enrolling in an academically matched college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 152-168.
    11. Kautz, Tim & Heckman, James J. & Diris, Ron & ter Weel, Bas & Borghans, Lex, 2014. "Fostering and Measuring Skills: Improving Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills to Promote Lifetime Success," IZA Discussion Papers 8696, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Per Johansson & Per Skedinger, 2009. "Misreporting in register data on disability status: evidence from the Swedish Public Employment Service," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 411-434, October.
    13. Petri Böckerman & John Cawley & Jutta Viinikainen & Terho Lehtimäki & Suvi Rovio & Ilkka Seppälä & Jaakko Pehkonen & Olli Raitakari, 2019. "The effect of weight on labor market outcomes: An application of genetic instrumental variables," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 65-77, January.
    14. Vitaliy Strohush & Justin Wanner, 2015. "College Degree for Everyone?," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 21(3), pages 261-273, August.
    15. James Heckman & Tim Kautz, 2013. "Fostering and Measuring Skills: Interventions That Improve Character and Cognition," Working Papers 2013-019, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    16. Turner, Nicholas, 2011. "The Effect of Tax-Based Federal Student Aid on College Enrollment," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 64(3), pages 839-861, September.
    17. Dominique J. Baker & William R. Doyle, 2017. "Impact of Community College Student Debt Levels on Credit Accumulation," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 671(1), pages 132-153, May.
    18. Daniel A Kamhöfer & Hendrik Schmitz & Matthias Westphal, 2019. "Heterogeneity in Marginal Non-Monetary Returns to Higher Education," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 205-244.
    19. Eric Bettinger & Michael Kremer & Maurice Kugler & Carlos Medina & Christian Posso & Juan E. Saavedra, 2019. "School Vouchers, Labor Markets and Vocational Education," Borradores de Economia 1087, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    20. Black, Dan A & Kniesner, Thomas J, 2003. "On the Measurement of Job Risk in Hedonic Wage Models," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 205-220, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19552. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.