Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B;)

Baccalaureate and Beyond
Longitudinal Study (B&B)

The Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) examines students' education and work experiences after they complete a bachelor's degree, with a special emphasis on the experiences of new elementary and secondary teachers.

What percentage of college graduates' parents did not earn a bachelor's degree or higher?
Among all 2015–16 first-time bachelor's degree recipients, 42 percent had parents who had not earned a bachelor's degree.

What percentage of college graduates completed their bachelor's degree in 48 months or less?
Forty-four percent of 2015–16 first-time bachelor's degree recipients completed their degree 48 months or less after first enrolling in postsecondary education.

One year after college, what percentage of graduates enroll in additional education?
Among 2015–16 first-time bachelor's degree recipients, 23 percent had enrolled in additional education within 12 months of completing their bachelor's degree.

One year after college, what was the median salary of men and women employed full time?
Twelve months after they graduated, male 2015–16 first-time bachelor's degree recipients employed full time had a median annual income of $41,600. For females, the median annual income was $37,400.

Ten years after college, what percentage of graduates owned a home or had a retirement account?
During 2018, about 10 years after completing the 2007–08 bachelor's degree, 63 percent of graduates owned a home and 86 percent had a retirement account.

Ten years after college, what percentage of graduated completed another degree?
Forty-three percent of 2007–08 bachelor's degree recipients had completed another degree or certificate program as of 2018.

What percentage of graduates were employed full time ten years?
Among 2007–08 bachelor's degree recipients who were working in 2018, some 85 percent were employed full time. Ninety-one percent of employed males and 81 percent of employed females worked full time in their current job.

Ten years after college, what percentage of graduates were working in the same state as their bachelor's degree institution?
Over half (59 percent) of 2007–08 graduates who were working in 2018 were doing so in the same state where they had earned their bachelor's degree.

Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) Features

Nationally representative longitudinal study of students who completed the requirements for a bachelor's degree in a given academic year
Follows graduating seniors 1, 4, and 10 years after completing their bachelor's degree
Special emphasis on new elementary and secondary teachers
The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) serves as the base year for each cohort
Four cohorts have been followed. Students in the most recent cohort completed their bachelor's degree in 2015–16 and were followed in 2017 and 2020. Data are currently being processed from the 2020 follow up
Data from the 10–year follow up of the 2007–08 cohort will be available in fall 2021

DataLab

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Highlights

January 2021: New report available providing data on the outcomes of 2007–08 bachelor's degree recipients in 2018, about 10 years after graduation. Outcomes include financial well-being, student loan borrowing and repayment, postbaccalaureate enrollment, employment history, earnings, job characteristics, and teaching status. For more information, go to:
https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2021241.
July 2020: Web tables available providing data on the outcomes of 2015–16 bachelor's degree recipients 1 year after graduation. Outcomes include undergraduate enrollment experiences, postbaccalaureate enrollment, characteristics of first postbaccalaureate job, financial wellbeing, and student loan debt and repayment. For more information, go to:
https://nces.ed.gov/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020341.
July 2019: Report available providing data on the outcomes of 2015–16 bachelor's degree recipients 1 year after graduation. Outcomes include time to degree, amount borrowed for undergraduate education, postbaccalaureate enrollment, employment status, earnings and job characteristics, and steps taken toward a career in teaching. For more information, go to:
https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2019241.

Related Longitudinal Studies

Beginning Postsecondary
Students

National Postsecondary
Student Aid Study

Historical Background

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) is a study of financial aid that NCES has conducted since 1987. The study collects comprehensive data about how students and their families pay for postsecondary education and also serves as the foundation and base year cohort for the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) and Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B).

The Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) tracks first-time students' pathways through postsecondary education over the course of six years, focusing on persistence and degree attainment, transition to employment, and school and work experiences. National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) administrations in 1990, 1996, 2004, 2012, and 2020 (forthcoming) identified the BPS cohorts.

The Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) follows bachelor's degree recipients over the course of 10 years, collecting data on workforce participation, income and debt repayment, and graduate school patterns. National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) administrations in 1993, 2000, 2008, and 2016 identified the B&B cohorts.

NCES collects transcript data from postsecondary institutions for various longitudinal studies, including the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) and Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) longitudinal studies. Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS) collections allow further examination of course-taking patterns, credit transfer, student momentum and attrition, and the connections among students' education choices, occupations, and wages. Transcripts were most recently collected for the BPS:12 cohort. Postsecondary education transcript collections include:

1984 – NLS-72
1993 – HS&B
1994 – B&B:93
2000 – NELS:88
2010 – BPS:04
2010 – B&B:08
2014 – ELS:2002
2017 – HSLS:09
2018 – BPS:12

NPSAS – National Postsecondary Student Aid Study
NPSAS:AC – National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: Administrative Collection
BPS – Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study
B&B – Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study
PETS – Postsecondary Education Transcript Studies

*Awarded but not yet funded