The Condition of Education: High School-to-College Transitions

This post is part of a series on the annual Condition of Education put out by the National Center for Education Statistics. See earlier posts on the dramatic increase in Master’s degrees awarded in education, the college wage premium, economic and racial segregation in our schools, student/teacher ratios, enrollment in for-profit colleges, and postsecondary enrollment by gender.

Each year for the past few years, a record number of college freshmen hit campuses all across the country. This is partly due to the baby boom echo, the children of Baby Boomers, but it’s also a function of the percentage of high school graduates who start college immediately after finishing high school. That number is at an all-time high.

In 1972, slightly less than half of all students completing a high school degree (including those earning General Educational Development diplomas) started at some form of postsecondary education the next fall. That number has inched up over the years, so that by 2008, nearly 70 percent did. And, while high-income students in 1972 were 41 percent more likely to enroll in college than their low-income peers, that gap has shrunk to 25.

This gradual rise has important consequences. First, it means the effort to expand college access is more or less working. That effort is by no means complete–the income gap, while narrowing, remains large, and gaps by race have not improved–but immediate college enrollment rates have gone up at all income levels and for all races.

Second, higher percentages of students enrolling in college means an inevitable decline in their average preparation. That manifests in rising enrollments in remedial programs which cost the state and students extra money and serve as an impediment to persistence and graduation.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, a high school degree is no longer seen as the end to formal education. If more and more students and families see college attendance, whether that means attending four-year universities, two-year colleges, or technical institutes, as necessary to their economic futures, that will put more pressure on high schools to prepare students successfully. Along with better data systems to track the transitions students make from high school into college and the workforce, this development must also change the way we define what a successful high school looks like.

Tagged as: College- and Career-Ready, College-Readiness, High School Graduation Rates, The Condition of Education