The Parsing the First Year of College project, led by co-investigators Robert Reason and Patrick Terenzini at Penn State University, uses NSSE as one measure in a longitudinal study of the influences on student learning and persistence in the first year of college. Similar to the Wabash National Study, students in the Parsing project completed the ACT CAAP Critical Thinking Test.

Data from this study include persistence and financial aid data, ACT test scores, ACT precollege survey data, CAAP critical thinking and some writing tests, and surveys of faculty, academic officers, and student affairs officers from each institution. Researchers also asked supplemental questions related to student openness to diversity.