A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) notes that 61.1% of learners who began college in fall 2018, which is the most recent cohort tracked, earned a credential within six years. This .5 percentage point increase is the first increase in the six-year completion rate in several years.
“The improvements here were mostly driven by students who started at community colleges. Community college completion rates jumped 1.2 percentage points to 43.4%, and they’re also primarily due to fewer students stopping out,” said Dr. Doug Shapiro, executive director of the NSCRC. “We’re seeing fewer students stopping out, and that leads to more students being able to finish within six years than in previous years.”
The “Yearly Progress and Completion” report has enhanced data quality and methodology and a new dashboard with a greater range of information, including rates of enrollment, stop-out and completion for each year along the way and an indicator of student progress in each cohort. Comparisons are available across states, gender, race/ethnicity and age as well as by year dating back to 2007.
Jorge Silva-Puras, the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Success at Lehman College, which is part of the City University of New York (CUNY), noted that the six-year completion rate at Lehman is around 51%. Over 80% of the student body at Lehman are individuals of color. The national six-year completion rate for Black students is 43.8% whereas Lehman’s is 51.6%. For the Hispanic student population, it is 49.5%.
“We, because of the student population we serve, are prepared and have been preparing to ensure their success,” said Silva-Puras. “We have shown an upward trend higher than the national average, which in the context of a six-year period that includes the pandemic is really encouraging.”
An unsurprising data point in the report is that full-time students from the fall 2018 cohort completed at a rate of 67.2% compared to part-time students, who completed at 33.7% and had a greater stop-out rate.
