Anyone casually familiar with our data prerogatives here at the National College Attainment Network knows we are big fans of the
National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) and its StudentTracker for High Schools (STHS) service. The service is a reliable, affordable way to get information on students’ postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes, and that data at the student level is difficult to obtain by other means.
As NCAN works with more and more districts and schools, we continue to stress the importance of signing up for this service. Heck, we even included it as a pillar of our K-12 Postsecondary Advising Resources page.
To get acquainted with the NSC and the StudentTracker, here are some fast facts:
The NSC is a nonprofit that holds data on about 98% of the postsecondary enrollments in the United States in a given year.
Through the StudentTracker service, colleges, high schools, and educational organizations can access information on the postsecondary enrollments, transfers, and completions of the students they serve.
With the StudentTracker, organizations can upload a large batch of student data and have it matched against the NSC's data.
At the time of this writing, an annual subscription fee for school districts is $595 per high school, which includes reports being delivered thrice annually (aligning with spring, summer, and fall enrollment windows).
Given that NCAN keeps advising district and school leaders and counseling teams on how to get on board with STHS, it makes sense to put those instructions and some tips and tricks here for others to reference. Away we go!
Identify a main point of contact, billing contact, and technical contact(s) who will be responsible for creating, sending, and receiving file data.
Get your superintendent on board because that person will need to sign the StudentTracker agreement.
Contact the Clearinghouse for more information about StudentTracker, and to start the process toward an agreement.
After NSC receives your signed agreement, a StudentTracker client coordinator will contact you. The coordinator will assist you through your StudentTracker implementation.
Pay the invoice. For high schools and districts, the fee is $595 per high school per year, which includes unlimited use of StudentTracker.
Build a graduate file that includes information on up to eight previous high school graduating classes.
Transmit files to the Clearinghouse via Secure FTP. An FTP account will be created for you during the implementation process and the details will be sent to you by your StudentTracker coordinator.
You should receive data during the next reporting period (depending on when you submit, either mid-March, mid-August, or mid-November).
Signing up for the StudentTracker is the best way to understand your students’ postsecondary outcomes. Along with student-level outcomes data, the service also provides an aggregated file with charts, graphs, and tables that generate insights on which
students are matriculating and to which institutions.
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