This supplement to "Postsecondary Student Terminology," a National Center for Education Statistics handbook, examines postsecondary education policy issues relevant to information needs about students, procedures used in identifying information items needed to statistically evaluate the issues, and an illustrative database for postsecondary education institutions. The policy issues, which were identified by a literature review and interviews with professionals, relate to equality of opportunity, trained manpower, and lifelong learning or recurrent education. Relevant variables to equality of opportunity are economics and financial issues, the location of educational programs, the scheduling of classes, the effect of the student's ability, and the available counseling. Two important concerns in relation to trained manpower are the factors that influence students' choice of career and the relationship between employment success and specific courses of study. Lifelong learning provides the opportunities for reentry into formal postsecondary education. Policy-relevant questions, variables relevant to the questions, and table-shell (report) specifications that show the data needed to describe the current value of subissues are analyzed. For selected topics, the format and data needed in reports are described to illustrate what might be required for an information system. The illustrative database is presented to review the use of student terms in combination with data from other files and to decide how data files will be linked. Appended materials include a bibliography, a definition of a postsecondary educational institution, and a list of resources for the definition. (SW)