This paper presents key results from a four-stage 15-year followup survey of deaf and hard of hearing graduates from 47 colleges and universities. The study also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of long-term alumni surveys to document institutional accountability and the effectiveness of quantitative measures to assess graduates' occupational and career accomplishments. Responses were received from 325 alumni from the classes of 1983, 1984, and 1985 from the 47 institutions and from 240 students from the class of 1999. Eighty-five percent of 1999 survey respondents were in the work force, in contrast to 90% of college graduates without disabilities. By many criteria, the study found that a majority of the alumni from all years were successful in their socioeconomic and career accomplishments. One merit of well-designed longitudinal surveys is their capacity to assess long-term trends in the attainments of graduates. However, the longer the time since graduation, the less one is able to infer that benefits result from completing college because of extraneous factors. Unless sample sizes are sufficient, it is difficult to infer anything about a specific degree from a specific college. In addition, the quality of survey research is strongly influenced by the degree of effort put into updating mailing lists. (Contains 34 references.) (SLD)