- A growing number of students are completing undergraduate credentials at a younger age, according to a new report that examines trends for the 2024-25 academic year.
- For the first time, students between the ages of 18 and 20 accounted for the largest portion of people earning their first associate degree – at 32.6 percent – surpassing those in the 21-24 age bracket, according to the report, which was produced by the Herndon, Virginia-based National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
- The report also found that more students are earning postsecondary credentials before the age of 18, a trend the report says is likely due to the rise in dual enrollment programs. In 2024-25, the number of students under 18 who earned undergraduate certificates and associate degrees stood at 52,500. That is nearly four times the amount for this age group a decade ago. “While still relatively small, this represents the culmination of a decade of strong growth for this age group,” the report states.
The bigger picture:
There is no way to discuss the rise in the number of young people earning undergraduate credentials – especially those who do so under the age of 18 – without at least taking into account the rise in the number of dual enrollment programs. Such programs enable high school students to take college courses for credit while still in high school. In the 2023-24 academic year, the number of dual enrollment students grew to 2.8 million. That’s 300,000 – or 12.7% – more than the prior year, according to the Community College Research Center.
However, as noted by the National College Attainment Network, the evidence of dual enrollment’s effects on college completion is mixed. Although the Community College Research Center found that dual enrollment students were two percentage points more likely to earn a degree than those who were not dually enrolled – 36 percent vs. 34 percent – dual enrollment students in some states were more likely to earn a college degree, but less likely to do so in other states.
The clearinghouse report also says dual enrollment might also be a factor behind the growth in the share of students between the ages of 18 and 20 who earned bachelor’s degrees during the period. There were 77,100 students ages 18 to 20 who earned an associate degree in the 2024-25 school year – a 47.7 percent increase over a decade ago. And there were 27,400 more students between ages 18 and 20 who earned bachelor’s degrees in the 2024-25 academic year. The figure makes the group’s share of all bachelor’s degree holders more than twice what it was a decade ago, the report states.
