Students enrolling within a year of high school graduation rose by as much as 3.2 percentage points for the 2022 graduating classes compared to the previous year, according to a new National Student Clearinghouse Research Center benchmarking report.
That increase was across nearly all high school characteristics, which included income/poverty level, urbanicity and minority characteristics, and, for the most part, at both two-year and four-year colleges.
A look at two-year colleges
For example, looking at 2022 graduates from “high poverty” high schools, 26.5% enrolled at a two-year college within the first year. That’s up from 24.2% in 2021.
Another example: The percentage of graduates from “high minority” high schools enrolling at a community college within a year rose from 23.3% in 2021 to 25.5% in 2022.
Even with those increases, overall, more high school graduates chose to enroll at a four-year college or university within the first year than at a community college. That is not surprising, though, considering the average age of a community college student is 27, according to the 2024 AACC Fact Sheet.
Of note, those enrolling at a community college largely chose to major in liberal arts and sciences, with health professions coming in a distant second.
Persistence rates trend up
First to second year persistence rates also increased across all high school characteristics by at least a percentage point between the 2020 and 2021 high school graduating classes, according to the report.
Though overall four-year college persistence rates were higher, two-year colleges had the bigger increases. The rates especially increased for students who graduated from high poverty high schools, from 63.1% for 2020 high school graduates to 68.6% for 2021 graduates.
And though the number of students graduating from rural high schools declined between 2020 and 2021, the percentage of graduates who persisted at community college increased from 66.6% to 69.8%.
Overall, graduates of high schools with higher shares of Black and Hispanic students saw a higher rise in rates of persistence (+2.9 percentage points) compared to graduates of low minority high schools. Looking at those “high minority” high school grads who enrolled at community college, the persistence rate rose by 3.7 percentage points.
“The improving persistence rate is an optimistic sign for high school graduates who are choosing to enroll in college,” said Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director, said in a release.
Completion rates stagnant
Finally, the report included data on the six-year completion rates for both 2016 and 2017 high school graduates. Overall, those numbers remained largely stagnant, and – for the most part – well below 50%, particularly at two-year colleges.
Though completion rates were lower at two-year colleges, the high school characteristic didn’t seem to make a difference. For example, the six-year completion rate for 2017 high school graduates from low-income high schools was 9.4%; for those from higher income high schools, it was 9.1%.
And the community college completion rate was 9.2% for both graduates from high minority and low minority high schools.
On the flip side, at four-year colleges, high school income disparities drove larger gaps in degree attainment for those at four-year colleges. While the six-year completion rate was 39.8% for 2017 graduates from higher income high schools, only 19.4% of graduates from low-income high schools completed in the same time frame.
“Large and widening gaps for low-income students continue to be a cause for concern … throughout the postsecondary journey,” Shapiro said.
This was NSC’s12th annual High School Benchmarks report, which provides the most current data on high school graduates’ postsecondary enrollment, persistence and completion outcomes.
