The overall percentage of college freshmen who return to the same college for their second year of higher education has declined — again — according to an annual survey released today.

In the 2007-8 academic year, 66 percent of first-year college students returned to the same institution for their second year of college, the lowest percentage since 1989. That figure is down from 68 percent in 2006-7 and 69 percent in 2005-6, according the survey, which was conducted by ACT Inc., the nonprofit testing and research group.

Two-year colleges, however, seem to be exempt from the downward trend. Fifty-four percent of students at two-year public colleges returned for their second year in 2007-8, up from 51 percent the previous year.

Retention rates vary among different types of institutions. They remain higher at four-year colleges (71 percent) than at two-year colleges (54 percent), as has been the case historically. The data, though, provide no specific answers as to why retention rates have dropped over all or why they have conversely risen at two-year public colleges.

The report does note that students who didn’t return to a college after their freshman year might have transferred or “stopped out,” rather than dropped out for good. —Steven Bushong