Methodological Notes Definition of First-Time Completer Degree Data Coverage and Weighting

A student who earned two credentials in the academic year of their first credential is counted only under the highest level of credential attained in that year (e.g., a student with no prior postsecondary credential who earned a bachelor’s degree and a certificate in 2022-23 is counted as a first-time bachelor’s degree completer). [...] If a completer-year combination is present in ER records but not in DV (approximately 4.2% of the 2022-23 bachelor’s degree earners, 4.7% of associate degree earners, and 7.8% of certificate earners), that completer is added to the report dataset. [...] In cases where the prior award did not appear in a DV record (approximately 0.2% of the 2022-23 bachelors’ degree earners, 0.4% of associate degree earners, and 0.5% of certificate earners), the level of the prior award was imputed based on the institution level and related enrollment records. [...] The 2015 Carnegie Classification was used to assign sectors for 2017-18, the 2018 Carnegie Classification for 2018-19 to 2020-21, and the 2021 Carnegie Classification for 2021-22 to 2022-23. [...] Gender data for the remaining students were imputed using a table of name-gender pairs that the Research Center developed using data publicly available from the Census Bureau and the Social Security Administration as well as the institution-reported data.