Page 206 - Crisis in Higher Education

Government’s Role in Higher Education • 177

High school non- High school non- High school non-
completer completer completer
20% 20% 20%
Did not attend Did not attend Did not attend Did not attend
immediately immediately immediately immediately
32% 32% 25% 25%

Attended Attended Drop out 14%
two-year college two-year college
High school 25% a 20% Two-year
completer graduate 6%
80% Immediate
college enroller Attended Drop out
68% four-year Attended 14%
four-year
university university Four-year
44% a 35% graduate
21%
a Rounding error in data.

FIGURE 9.1
Tracing high school students to college enrollers to higher education graduates.
(Note: The numbers in the second and third columns are based on high school com-
pleters, so the percentages are adjusted accordingly. For the fourth and fifth columns, the
numbers are adjusted to include the non-completers. This is done to get an estimate of the
percent of high school students who graduate with a higher education degree.)

in the second column of Figure 9.1. This is called the immediate college
enrollment rate. The third column of Figure 9.1 shows that about 25% of
the completers attended two-year colleges and 44% attended four-year
universities. (These two numbers add up to 69%, not to 68%, indicating
13
a rounding error.) The fourth column of Figure 9.1 restates the college and
university attendance as a percent of high school students, which includes
completers and noncompleters. Only about 20% and 35% of high school
completers and noncompleters attended two-year colleges and four-year
universities, respectively, in the Fall semester of what should have been
their high school graduation year.
The last column of Figure 9.1 shows the percent of high school students
who graduated from two-year colleges in three years or less and from four-
year universities in six years or less. For two-year students, only 29.3%
graduated within three years, leading to a graduation rate of about 6%
14
(29.3% multiplied by 20%). So, for all high school students, including
completers and noncompleters, only 6% received a two-year degree within
three years of graduating from high school. For four-year students, only
59.4% graduated within six years, leading to a graduation rate of only
14
21% (59.4% multiplied by 35%). So, for all high school students, including