Proposed Framework The constructs of permeability and transparency can be extended to describe the higher education system more generally (Arnett, 2004). Doing so provides insight into how educational policies shape the pathways of students into and through higher education. Similarly to Hamilton, we defi ne permeability as how easy it is to move into and within the higher education system, and transparency as how easy it is to see a path towards educational attainment. Conceptually, researchers have considered two levels of educational attainment, enrollment and completion; we separate transparency into how it relates to these two attainments. We defi ne enrollment transparency as how easy it is to see a path into college, and completion transparency as how easy it is to see a path from enrollment to completion. Most students enter higher education seeking a degree, and this analysis is primarily concerned with them. Over 80% of high school seniors in 1992 planned to get an associate’s degree or higher (authors’ calculation using NELS), and, in a national sample of all beginning postsecondary students (of all ages), 75% enter expecting to complete an associate’s degree or higher (authors’ calculation using BPS 96/01). We argue that policies, institutional structures, and socio-cultural expectations combine to locate a higher education system on a plane defi ned by permeability and transparency. For simplicity, higher education systems may be modeled as low or high on each dimension, as depicted in Figure 72.1.