National College Dropout and Graduation Rates, 1997

April 1, 1998

Each spring semester since 1983, ACT has collected dropout and graduation data from the majority of U.S. colleges and universities and reported it to admissions officials, academic counselors and, more recently, the general public. This latest report comprises tables of data collected between January and May 1997. Taken together, the reports reveal that, from 1983 to the present, the percentage of entering students who don't return for a second year—for whatever reason—has increased slightly but steadily at two-year institutions and at private four-year colleges. They also reveal that the percentages of students who complete a degree within either three or five years have decreased more or less steadily, and to a greater extent, than the nonreturn rates have increased.

The data are aggregated according to combinations of institutions in the following self-reported categories:

In 1997, 2,609 institutions—1,619 four-year and 990 two-year—returned ACT questionnaires. Not all responded to every question; thus, the number of institutions reporting may differ slightly from table to table.

To derive the dropout tables, institutions are asked to report the "percent of last fall's freshman class who enrolled this fall." The rates reported in these 1997 tables refer to fall 1995 freshmen who didn't return in fall 1996. The dropout rates include students who may have transferred to another institution. ACT doesn't collect transfer data. Institutions know which students return and which don't, but they don't necessarily know what happens to the students who don't return. Those interested in the transfer issue may wish to consult "Transfer Behavior Among Beginning Postsecondary Students: 1989-94," published in June 1997 by the National Center for Education Statistics. That report does not, however, reveal how many first-year students transfer before the second year.

For the graduation tables, two-year institutions are asked to report the "percent of entrants that complete a diploma or certificate program at this institution within three years" or the "percent of entrants that complete an associate degree at this institution within three years." Four-year colleges report the "percent of entrants that ultimately complete the baccalaureate degree at this institution within five years after high school graduation." We assume that institutions responding in 1997 used spring or summer 1996 as the degree completion point, which would mean that they were reporting largely students who entered two-year institutions in fall 1993 or four-year institutions in fall 1991. Students who transferred in after those dates and then graduated could also be included.

As far as we know, ACT is the only organization that has been collecting and reporting consistent national graduation data since the early 1980s. The NCAA has been reporting six-year graduation rates for Division I institutions (approximately 374) since 1992. The National Center for Education Statistics reports on the time students take to complete a bachelor's degree in four timeframes: four years or less, between four and five years, between five and six years, and more than six years. But the percentages reported are of degree completers, not of all undergraduates. The federal government now requires most institutions to provide six-year graduation rates, but those data have not yet been aggregated. Further, federal regulations allow institutions to report certain categories of students who have not completed a degree among their degree completers. Legislatures in some states also require time-to-graduation reports from institutions in their control, but the efforts aren't coordinated or standardized.

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