This report profiles undergraduates enrolled in postsecondary education for the academic year 1992-93. It relies on data from the 1992-93 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, third in a series conducted by the Department of Education. The report begins with an essay that explores the extent to which undergraduates have outside responsibilities and enrollment patterns that increase their risk of not attaining a degree or postsecondary certificate. Following the essay, a compendium of tables provides comprehensive information about enrollment patterns, programs of study, student characteristics, financial aid receipt and employment, students' educational aspirations, and their community service participation. Not since the 1970s has the typical postsecondary student been a recent high school graduate enrolled full-time at a four-year school, and working toward a Bachelor's degree. On the contrary, such students represented only about one-third of undergraduates enrolled in 1992-93. The first section of the compendium contains detailed risk factor tables, and the remaining sections are marked to highlight topic findings. (Contains 9 text tables, 8 figures, and 58 tables in the compendium.) (SLD)

This sourcebook is a comprehensive compilation of data on American Indian and Alaska Native participation in higher education, primarily 4-year and 2-year universities and colleges, including tribal colleges. Data cover undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty, as well as student outcomes following graduation. Data sources include the National Center for Education Statistics, the Bureau of the Census, and various published surveys and reports. The introduction explains terminology, data limitations, and structure of the sourcebook. Chapters cover: (1) American Indian and Alaska Native demography and a historical overview of Native American postsecondary education in the United States; (2) Native American access to higher education in terms of high school performance and graduation, scores on college entrance examinations, and student risk factors; (3) Native postsecondary enrollment, 1976-94, (by institution level and control and student sex, attendance status, degree level, major field of study, institution, and state), as well as student persistence and graduation rates; (4) degree completions, characteristics of degree recipients, and institutions awarding the largest number of degrees to Native Americans; (5) receipt and use of student financial aid; (6) American Indian and Alaska Native college faculty and staff, salaries, tenure, and distribution; and (7) historical overview and highlights of each of the 30 tribal colleges. Many data tables and figures are included. Appendices contain 80 references, supplemental data tables for the first six chapters, standard error tables, a glossary and list of acronyms, and over 200 additional sources of information. (SV)

The Workshop on the Knowledge Economy and Postsecondary Education documents changes seen in the postsecondary education system. In her report Lisa Hudson focuses on who is participating in postsecondary education; Tom Bailey concentrates on community colleges as the most responsive institutions to employer needs; Carol Twigg surveys the ways that four-year institutions are attempting to modify their curricular offerings and pedagogy to adapt those that will be more useful; and Brian Pusser emphasizes the public's broader interests in higher education and challenges the acceptance of the primacy of job preparation for the individual and of "market" metaphors as an appropriate descriptor of American higher education. An example of a for-profit company providing necessary instruction for workers is also examined. Richard Murnane, Nancy Sharkey, and Frank Levy investigate the experience of Cisco high school and community college students need to testify to their information technology skills to earn certificates. Finally, John Bransford, Nancy Vye, and Helen Bateman address the ways learning occurs and how these can be encouraged, particularly in cyberspace.