The Student Achievement Measure (SAM) is a collaborative effort to enhance transparency and to provide the public and other stakeholders with a more comprehensive measure of college student progress and completion. The SAM provides a complete picture of student progress on the path to earning an undergraduate college degree or certificate. SAM reports aggregate outcomes for two groups of students who start at a college or university at the same time (first time students and transfer students). Unlike typical graduation rate measures, which report only the percentage of students who graduate from their first institution, SAM includes the percentage of students who are still working toward a degree at their first institutions, as well as those who transfer to another institution and receive a degree or are still pursuing a degree at the transfer institution.