The 2020 update shows that of those who began postsecondary education at a community college in fall 2013, lower-income students were half as likely as their higher-income peers to have transferred to a four-year institution (24% vs. 40%) and to have attained a bachelor’s degree (10% vs. 21%) within six years of first entry.
In fall 2019, overall postsecondary enrollments decreased 1.3 percent or more than 231,000 students from the previous fall to 17.9 million students.
This report offers insights about students’ subsequent enrollments and completions, based on the most current national data that tracks individual students over time and across institutions and across state lines since the first Some College, No Degree report was released in 2014.
This seventh annual report provides the most current data on high school graduates’ postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes. It provides the most relevant benchmarks for evaluating and monitoring progress in assisting students to make the transition from high school to college. This year’s report examines the immediate college enrollment for high school graduating class of 2018, persistence for class of 2016, and completion for class of 2012. We continue to see large gaps between higher-income and low-income high schools on all fronts.
Among all students who enrolled in college for the first time in fall 2017, 73.8 percent persisted at any U.S. institution in fall 2018, while 61.7 percent were retained at their starting institution
In the current term (spring 2019) overall postsecondary enrollments decreased 1.7 percent from the previous spring.
By the end of year four, 43.7 percent had completed a postsecondary credential, while 23.0 percent were no longer enrolled. By the end of year six, 64.3 percent had graduated, while 26.6 percent had left college without earning a credential.
In the state supplement to our seventh annual report on national college completion rates, we take a state-by-state look at the six-year outcomes for students who began postsecondary education in fall 2012.
This fifth annual report on national college completion rates offers a look at the six-year outcomes for students who began postsecondary education in fall 2010, toward the end of the Great Recession. It looks at the various pathways students took toward degree completion, as well as the completion rates through May 2016 for the different student types who followed each pathway.
