In California, studies of the flow of students from high school to higher education and from community colleges to four-year institutions have been conducted annually since 1978 by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. These studies have sought to identify trends in college-going rates and examine the gains and losses in college-going rates experienced by various counties in light of statewide trends; to compare the ethnic distribution of high school graduates with that of first-time freshmen in higher education; and to examine trends in community college transfer, comparing the ethnic distribution of transfers to that of first-time freshmen in the community colleges. Highlights of the 1980 study included: (1) college-going rates for recent high school graduates continued to increase for public higher education; (2) the percentage of male high school graduates enrolling in the University of California (UC) and the California community colleges was higher than the percentage of females enrolling in these institutions, while a greater percentage of females than males enrolled in the California State Universities (CSU); (3) the percentages of Blacks and Hispanics continued to be smaller in the distribution of first-time freshmen in public higher education than in the distribution of high school graduates; and (4) community college transfers to the UC continued to decline while transfers to CSU increased. Extensive data tables are appended. (KL)