Enrollment Status and Highest Grade/Degree - Appendix 1

Variables Created

• CV_ENROLLSTAT (ENCAT)--enrollment status as of the survey date. Use the revised CV_ENROLLSTAT_EDT series for rounds 2-8.
• CV_HGC_EVER_EDT (GRSURV)--single-round variable for highest grade completed by all respondents interviewed in that round
• CVC_HGC_EVER (GRSURV_CVC)--cross-round variable for highest grade completed by all respondents as of most recent interview
• CV_HIGHEST_DEGREE_EVER_EDT (DEGSURV)--single-round variable for highest degree received by all respondents interviewed in that round
• CVC_HIGHEST_DEGREE_EVER (DEGSURV_CVC)--cross-round variable for highest degree received by all respondents as of most recent interview

This program first creates an enrollment status variable for each respondent. It then identifies the highest grade completed by the respondent as of the current round interview date and at the start of the new academic year prior to the survey round. It determines the highest degree or diploma received by the respondent as of the same two dates. Finally, it creates collapsed versions of the highest grade completed and highest degree received as cross-round variables.

The following decision rules are used to resolve conflicts in the data.

1. Rs who report receiving both a GED and a H. S. Diploma are coded as receiving a H. S. Diploma
2. Rs who report completing 12th grade but do not report receiving a H. S. Diploma or GED are coded as having completed 12th grade (in GRSURV and GRAUG, if applicable) but are not credited with a H. S. Diploma/GED on ENCAT, DEGSURV, or DEGAUG. Researchers interested in diploma receipt should use the DEGSURV or ENCAT variables, not HGC as of survey date since 12th grade completion does not necessarily signify H.S. Diploma completion.
3. Due to conflicting reports from a small number of Rs regarding their school attendance in the loops versus in single items, invalid skips (-3) have been filled in since no reasonable determination on the enrollment and grades completed can be made (ENCAT, GRSURV, GRAUG). Specifically, Rs are assigned a -3 if they:
1. report being not enrolled and
2. report a HGC on the single items (e3112) that is greater than the cv_highest_degree_ever for the prior round (but do not indicate completing this grade in a loop) and
3. report that their HGA (e2857) is two or more greater than the HGC reported in the prior round. Since these Rs provide inconsistent information multiple times, they have been assigned a -3. If they provide valid information on degrees earned, that variable will have a value.
4. Some respondents provide conflicting information of grades attended/completed in the schooling loops (e8416 and e9589) versus the single items (e3112, e2857). These Rs were identified as below where (ENROLL=0 and 12>=e3112^=GRSURV>0 and DEGSURV not in (1,2) and GRSURV^=95) or (0<maxgrade=GRSURV<95 and GRSURV^=e3112 and e3112<=12).
5. This program gives priority to information provided in the schooling loops over that provided on single item questions. Users may wish to check the CV_HGC_EVER variable against student single item self-reports of HGC (e3112), which in many cases indicates a higher grade was completed than that reported in the loops.
6. Even if we do not have a date for the degree received (or we have an invalid date) we code the DEGSURV for that degree.
7. If R reports being in a 4year college or university (this is one category) and pursuing a degree higher than a bachelor's we code their enrollment status as enrolled in a graduate program (ENCAT=11). The problem here is that since we are not sure whether they are in a 4-year college or a university, we are not sure whether their they are actually in a graduate program or in a bachelor's program but their ultimate academic goal is a graduate program. There are 54 cases in this category who do not have an Associates or Bachelor's degree. We could have used that criterion to identify those actually in a graduate program. The problem is that there are programs which give only a graduate degree without a bachelor's degree. So we code all these as ENCAT=11. If the questionnaire is changed to accommodate the graduate program option, these may be recoded in later rounds.

Link to Enrollment Status and Highest Grade/Degree program file