Graduation Rates, Outcome Measures, Student Financial Aid, and Admissions in Postsecondary Institutions for Cohorts between 2009 and 2017

By MacGregor Obergfell

The National Center for Education Statistics recently released a report detailing graduation rates, outcome measures, student financial aid, and admissions data for cohorts of undergraduate students between 2009 and 2017.

Among the findings:

Graduation Rates

• 60% of first-time full-time students who began their academic career at a four-year institution in 2011 completed their bachelor’s degree within six years at the same institution.
  • Breaking down the data further, 60% of first-time full-time students at public four-year institutions in 2011 graduated within six years from the institution at which they started, compared to 66% at private non-profit institutions, and 21% at private for-profit institutions.
  • Within this cohort of students, 41% of students who received a Pell grant and 61% of students who received a Direct Subsidized Loan (but no Pell grant) graduated within six years from the institution at which they started.
  • 61% of students who received neither award graduated within six years at the same institution.
• 34% of first-time full-time students who began their academic career at two-year institutions in 2014 completed their degree within three years at the institution at which they started.
  • 27% of first-time full-time students at public two-year institutions in 2014 graduated within three years from the institution at which they started, compared to 63% at private non-profit institutions, and 62% at private for-profit institutions.

Financial Aid

• In the 2016 cohort of first-time full-time students, 83% of students at public four-year institutions, 74% of students at public two-year institutions and 63% of students at less than two-year institutions received some form of financial aid.
  • 90% of students at private non-profit four-year institutions, 93% of students at private non-profit two-year institutions, and 79% of students at private non-profit less than two-year institutions received some form of financial aid.
  • 85% of students at private for-profit four-year institutions, 85% of students at private for-profit two-year institutions, and 84% of students at private for-profit less than two-year institutions received some form of financial aid.

Student Outcomes

• Non-first-time full-time students graduate at a higher rate than first-time full-time students.
  • At public four-year institutions, 61% of non-first-time full-time students completed within eight years, compared with 56% of first-time full-time students.
  • At private for-profit institutions, 41% of non-first-time full-time students completed within eight years, while 28% of first-time full-time students completed within eight years.
  • Non-first-time full-time students and first-time full-time students at private non-profit institutions completed at a similar rate (64% and 63% respectively).