The National Student Clearinghouse recently released “Completing College,” which introduced the national six-year completion outcomes for the cohort of students entering in 2013 and the national eight-year completion outcomes for the cohort of students entering in 2011. The report also examined each cohort’s demographics and education pathways. The national completion rate used in the report counts all students in a given year who enrolled for the first time, whether full-time or part-time, and all students who completed after transferring, not just those who completed at their first institution. These metrics give a much more thorough view of students and completion than other available metrics.
Among the findings:
- The national completion rate for the 2013 cohort of students entering college increased over the 2012 cohort entering college, although at a smaller rate than in previous years.
- Over 2.3 million students enrolled for the first time in 2013, up 1.8% from the 2012 cohort. 59.7% of the 2013 cohort (1.8 million students) completed by 2019, up from 58.3% of the 2012 cohort and reaching the highest completion rate since 2009.
- Completion increased across all sectors. The completion rate at public two-year institutions increased 1.6% to 40.8% and at public four-year institutions the completion rate increased 1% to 66.7%. Completion at four-year for-profit institutions increased 5.1% to 42.4%, and completion at four-year private non-profit institutions increased 0.4% to 76.5%.
- The 2013 cohort of college entering students was more “traditional” than previous cohorts.
- 2% of entering students were younger than 21, an increase of 0.4% from the 2012 cohort. 11.5% of the 2013 cohort were 24 or older, a 1% decrease from the 2012 cohort, and 9.4% of the 2013 cohort were between 21 and 24.
- 5% of the 2013 cohort began at a public four-year institution, and 32.8% began at a public two-year institution. 19.7% of the 2013 cohort began at a private non-profit four-year institutions and 1.7% began at a private for-profit institution.
- 48% of the 2013 cohort was enrolled exclusively full-time, and 46% of the cohort was enrolled a mix of full-time and part-time.
- 5% of the 2013 cohort completed a credential at their starting institution.
- The eight-year completion rate of the 2011 cohort was 61.8%, up 4.9% from its six-year completion rate of 56.9%.
- The improvement in completion rates between the 2012 and 2013 entering cohorts varied across age at entry.
- For the 2013 entering cohort, completion rates for students younger than 21 increased just 1.2% from the 2012 cohort to 64.1%. For the same cohort, completion rates for students between 21 and 24 increased 2.6% from the 2012 cohort to 45.1%, and the completion rate for students over the age of 24 increased 2.3% from the 2012 cohort to 45.8%.
