Nearly all states in the United States (45) currently have a postsecondary attainment goal to improve the average education levels of their residents and develop a highly-educated workforce. During a time of accelerated COVID-19 related postsecondary enrollment declines, the question as to how states will meet these goals could be particularly…

Low student success rates are widespread in American higher education. More than a quarter of freshmen do not return for their second year; at community colleges, it is 41 percent. In 2019, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center identified 36 million adults who had some postsecondary experience but had yet to earn any type of…

Nationwide, public schools began to experience a youth population decline prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. After 14 years of successively smaller U.S. birth cohorts, elementary public schools now face gradually declining student counts. The complex convergence of shifting age demographics, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing…

As the tenth in the Completing College series, this report updates the six-year college completion rates nationally and by state, by tracking the enrollment and completion outcomes for the fall 2015 cohort of beginning college students through June 2021. The national completion rate measures the performance of the entire higher education system.…