Featured Reports

Completing College:  A State-Level View of Student Completion Rates

8 March 2018 In Featured Reports

Completing College:  A State-Level View of Student Completion Rates

By Jael Greene

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center recently released a report titled Completing College: A State-Level View of Student Completion Rates. In this supplement to their national report on completion rates released in December 2017, six-year completion rates for first-time, full-time students who began their postsecondary education in the fall of 2011 are examined at the state level. [1]

Key findings include:

  • 24 states exceeded the national average completion rate of 64.7% for students who began their postsecondary education at four-year public institutions.
    • 8 of these states (Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia) had completion rates of 75% or higher.
  • 24 states exceeded the national average completion rate of 37.5% for students who began their postsecondary education at two-year public institutions.
    • 3 of these states (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota) had completion rates of 50% or higher.
  • 15 states exceeded the national average completion rate of 76% for students who began their education at four-year private nonprofit institutions.
    • 12 of these states (California, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and the District of Columbia) had completion rates of 80% or higher.
  • 18 states exceeded the national average completion rate of 14.7% for students who began their postsecondary education at a two-year public institution but completed a degree at a four-year institution.
    • Kansas had the highest completion rates at 20%.
  • 25 states exceeded the national average completion rate of 48.9% for adult learners (24 years old or older) who began their postsecondary education at four-year public institutions.
    • In two states (Illinois and Texas) the completion rate was nearly 75%.

 

[1] You can find a summary of the Completing College: A National View of Student Completion Rates – Fall 2011 Cohort report here.