# educational attainment \[EDUC\] categories **URL:** \ **Category:** USA\ **Created:** [June 30, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/educational-attainment-educ-categories/1352 "2016-06-30T16:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nina\_chien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@nina\_chien](https://forum.ipums.org/u/nina_chien)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/educational-attainment-educ-categories/1352/1 "2016-06-30T16:21:00Z")
I see that the questionnaire text was asked the way I’m interested in: NURSERY OR PRESCHOOL THROUGH GRADE 12 Nursery school Kindergarten Grade 1 through 11 – Specify grade 1-11 –\> 12th grade – NO DIPLOMA HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE Regular high school diploma GED or alternative credential COLLEGE OR SOME COLLEGE Some college credit, but less than 1 year of college credit 1 or more years of college credit, no degree Associate’s degree (for example: AA, AS) Bachelor’s degree (for example: BA, BS) AFTER BACHELOR’S DEGREE Master’s degree (for example: MA, MS, MEng, MEd, MSW, MBA) Professional degree beyond a bachelor’s degree (for example: MD, DDS, DVM, LLB, JD) Doctorate degree (for example: PhD, EdD) But the variable is then coded as follows: | N/A or no schooling | | Nursery school to grade 4 | | Grade 5, 6, 7, or 8 | | Grade 9 | | Grade 10 | | Grade 11 | | Grade 12 | | 1 year of college | | 2 years of college | | 4 years of college | | 5+ years of college | I’m guessing this was done for harmonization purposes. Is there a way to get the original, unharmonized EDUC variable, which contains the categories I’m interested in? Thanks so much. ---
**Author:** ![Erin\_Meyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Erin\_Meyer](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Erin_Meyer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/educational-attainment-educ-categories/1352/2 "2016-07-06T18:01:00Z")
To see the more specific educational attainment categories, select the “Detailed Codes” radio button on the [EDUC codes page](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/educ#codes_section). I hope this helps.