Previously published or publicly accessed data, as well as two new sources--Postsecondary Transcript Sample (PETS) of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Graduating Class of 1972 (NLS), and the recently completed 5th Follow-Up Survey (1986) of the NLS cohort, with original calculations derived--were used for this statistical study of higher education in America. Descriptive rather than analytic statistics were used, and projections about the future were avoided. The data emphasized present day information, and focused on the formal higher education sector in America (undergraduate education in particular). The topics considered by section in this study are: institutions (classifications and enrollment); the state framework (enrollments, capacity, and support); students (aspirations; access, and flows); faculty; governance (state, institution, and faculty); and assessment. Major themes from these data include a decline in social sciences and rise of applied fields, a rise in comprehensive colleges, a decline in educational aspirations of high school graduates in the United States, and a reappearance of student distance from learning. Numerous tables and graphs illustrate the major points (SM)