Marty’s stats from the Public Policy and Higher Education center displayed some of the high attrition rates among college students. The percentages are a sober contrary to the many stories of high achievers earning spots at competitive colleges and heading into professional schools. Marty focuses on the Bay Area, and the national picture is just as bad.
Here are figures from the Center for the entire country. If we count from the beginning of high school forward, we find that out of 100 kids who entered 9th Grade, 32 didn’t make it through 12th-grade on time.
Of those 68 successes, 40 enrolled in college the following September.
Of those 40, 27 were enrolled in college the next year.
And of those 27, 18 earned an associate’s degree within three years or a bachelor’s degree within six years.
So, on average, colleges lose about one-third of their freshman class each year. And from sophomore year to graduation, they lose one-third again. Barely one in six ninth-graders make it to an undergraduate degree.
