2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B:16/20) Full-Scale Study

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducts the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) studies. The B&B studies of the education, work, financial, and personal experiences of individuals who have completed a bachelor’s degree at a given point in time are a series of longitudinal studies. Every 8 years, students are identified as bachelor’s degree recipients through the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS). B&B:16/20 is the second follow-up of a panel of baccalaureate degree recipients identified in the 2015–16 NPSAS, and part of the fourth cohort (B&B:16) of the B&B series. NPSAS:16 is the base year for B&B:16 follow-up interviews in 2017, 2020, and 2026 (anticipated). B&B cohorts prior to B&B:16 were approved under OMB# 1850-0729. The B&B:16 cohort is submitted and reviewed under OMB# 1850-0926. The primary purposes of the B&B studies are to describe the post-baccalaureate paths of new college graduates, with a focus on their experiences in the labor market and post-baccalaureate education, and their education-related debt. B&B also focuses on the continuing education paths of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates, as well as the experiences of those who have begun careers in education of students through the 12th grade. Since graduating from college in 2014-15 for the field test, and 2015-16 for the full-scale study, members of this B&B:16 cohort will begin moving into and out of the workforce, enrolling in additional undergraduate and graduate education, forming families, and repaying undergraduate education-related debt. Documenting these choices and pathways, along with individual, institutional, and employment characteristics that may be related to those choices, provides critical information on the costs and benefits of a bachelor’s degree in today’s workforce. B&B studies include both traditional-age and non-traditional-age college graduates, whose education options and choices often diverge considerably, and allow study of the paths taken by these different graduates. B&B:16/20 panel maintenance activities were cleared in July 2019 and are currently scheduled to continue through February 2020. This request is for the full-scale study student interview data collection scheduled to take place from July 2020 through March 2021.

The latest form for 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B:16/20) Full-Scale Study expires 2023-05-31 and is listed under ICR 202012-1850-001.