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In this paper the authors describe in detail the existing content, value, uses and costs of the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) system as a component of the national postsecondary data infrastructure. The authors also describe some limitations to its use related to the data's ownership and the agreements that govern its use. In this paper, the authors recommend an incremental approach rather than a new data collection system or a change in policy, regulation, or legislation. The data and the infrastructure they recommend already exist. The authors also suggest four paths to making better use of this comprehensive national resource to meet the needs of policy, accountability, research, and consumer information audiences.

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In our Completing College National Report released in December 2019 [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 146.613], we reviewed national six-year college completion outcomes for 2.3 million first-time beginning college students in the fall of 2013. In this update we provide comparable six-year completion outcomes by state for the same student cohort. As the national report showed, the college completion rate has been rising steadily for the past five cohort years (2009-2013). States generally follow this pattern, with overall completion rate gains in each of the three largest institutional sectors, public four- and two-year and private nonprofit four-year institutions. (Private for-profits are not included in the state-level analysis due to uneven historical data coverage.)

State-level data also unveils disparities among states and some state nuances that are not readily detected in the aggregate. The national six-year completion rate reached 60 per cent in 2019 for the 2013 entering cohort, a new high since we started tracking such data nine years ago. State results further confirm that progress is made in nearly all states and not driven by a few large or fast-growing states. Moreover, the gaps in completion rates among states appear to be narrowing. The completion rate for students starting at community colleges, although generally increasing, varies more by state in the rate of increase compared to the public four-year rate. Consistent with the national trend, we found first-time beginning students in many states also becoming more traditional in demographics and enrollment patterns.

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In the United States, approximately two million people each year enter postsecondary education for the first time. Eight years later, one-third of those who started have not earned any formal credential and are no longer enrolled. While it is true that more people have been going to college than ever before, the college completion rate hasn't changed much. Because of this, we expect the number of people who start - but don't finish - college to grow as well. This former student population, also known as the Some College, No Degree (SCND) population, is an important indicator for an economy that demands more workers with education and training beyond high school, as is true in the United States. This population is also important as a source of possible enrollment growth for postsecondary institutions in many parts of the country that are struggling with recent declines. Former students themselves also reap great personal benefits from obtaining degrees and certificates.

However, many questions remain: Where in the nation are they concentrated? How many are 'near completers' who may be only a few credits away from graduating? When, and at which type of institution, did they last interact with postsecondary education? Which students, and how many, have returned and earned degrees? What kind of degrees, and in which major fields? Which educational pathways did they traverse to make it to graduation? This report provides some insights into these questions. It is the second in a series that analyzes the characteristics of this former student population and their postsecondary education enrollment history and pathways.

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This report examines the various pathways that students take to complete a college degree or certificate. This second annual report on national college completions rates continues to respond to the limitations of institution-based research by focusing on student-level data, tracking the completion of postsecondary certificates and degrees among firsttime degree-seeking students who started their postsecondary education in fall 2007 and tracking their enrollments nationwide for six years, through the spring of 2013. The report also introduces an enhancement to the first Completions Report by including in the cohort students who entered college with prior experience in college-level courses through dual enrollment opportunities while still in high school. The six-year outcomes examined in this report include completions at students' starting institutions and transfer institutions, as well as persistence for those who had not earned a degree within six years. The patterns revealed in this study reflect both the complexity of students' postsecondary pathways and the distinctive enrollment behaviors among students following non-traditional pathways.

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This report also includes the Signature Completions Extra which presents the six-year outcomes for the fall 2007 cohort, not including dual enrollment students. The data allows for comparison of the fall 2007 cohort results to the fall 2006 cohort results that were presented in November 2012 as part of Signature Report 4, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center's first college completion study. Show less

As the eleventh 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 2016 cohort of beginning college students through June 2022. The report also features national eight-year completion outcomes for the fall 2013 and fall 2014 cohorts through June 2021 and June 2022 respectively. The national completion rate measures the performance of the entire higher education system. It counts all students who enter postsecondary education for the first time each fall, enrolling full-time or part-time at two-year or four-year institutions, and completing at any US degree-granting institution. It includes those who complete after transfer, not just completions at the starting institution. Thus, the results more fully capture today's students' success, which increasingly involve mobility across institutions, re-entry after stop-out, and changes in enrollment intensities.

A longitudinal data appendix accompanies the report and offers detailed six-year and eight-year completion outcomes by cohort year across starting institution sectors and student backgrounds, enabling national and state-level comparisons through interactive visualizations and analysis tools.

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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. It counts all students who enter postsecondary education for the first time each fall, enrolling full-time or part-time at two-year or four-year institutions, and completing at any US degree-granting institution. It includes those who complete after transfer, not just completions at the starting institution. Thus, the results more fully capture today's students' diverse pathways to success, which increasingly involve mobility across institutions and across state lines, re-entry after stop-out, and changes in enrollment intensities. Newly added this year, the longitudinal data dashboard offers detailed six-year completion outcomes by cohort year across starting institution sectors and student backgrounds, enabling national and state-level comparisons through interactive visualizations and analysis tools. Underlying data are available online for downloading. The national eight-year completion rates are not included in the current report and will be published at a later time.

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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 [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 related postsecondary enrollment declines, the question as to how states will meet these goals could be particularly pertinent. While our latest enrollment report provides encouragement that these unusually large declines are stabilizing, it is still uncertain when and how higher education will be able to rebound. Re-engaging with the Some College, No Credential (SCNC) population - the former students who stopped out without earning a credential - has been a priority for the many states with these established attainment goals. To succeed in bringing them back into higher education, state and institutional leaders need accurate and timely information about the current SCNC population, their progress, and outcomes upon re-enrollment, which is the focus of this annual progress reporting of SCNC students.

This year's report suggests that there is an increasingly missed opportunity for states and institutions to re-engage with SCNC students even as the SCNC population is growing. Between July 2020 and July 2021, the US has added 1.4 million more SCNC students; the SCNC population is now 40.4 million, up 3.6 per cent from 39.0 million a year earlier. However, during the latest academic year 2021/22, fewer SCNC students re-enrolled, completed a credential, or persevered to a second year of re-enrollment than they did the previous year.

In addition to detailing the SCNC population growth nationally and in each state, this report shows the annual re-enrollment and completion outcomes among SCNC students for the 2021/22 academic year and those who persevered over a two-year period upon re-enrolling. The report is accompanied by a data appendix and an interactive data dashboard for 50 states, [District of Columbia] D.C., and US territories. These resources will help states and institutions better tap into the SCNC students and identify their own areas of success and opportunity for the postsecondary attainment goals.

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The Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) is a service of the National Student Clearinghouse established in 2017 to empower institutions with more comprehensive data, easier analysis, centralized reporting functions, and interactive visualizations. Since its inception, over 500 colleges and universities have participated in the PDP. The 2022 PDP Insights report focuses on two primary metrics: students' first year credit completion ratio (CCR) and credit accumulation rate (CAR). The CCR is the ratio of credits earned to credits attempted. This measure of student success and credit attainment can provide insights into students' overall course completion outcomes and measure the efficiency of students' movement through coursework. The CAR directly measures students' timely accumulation of college credits by identifying the share of students who surpassed specific credit-hour thresholds within a given period.

Students in this analysis are first-time (including first-time in college and first-time, transfer-in), degree-seeking students entering a PDP-participating institution in the 2019-20 cohort. This cohort consists of 905,689 unique student enrollments at 342 unique postsecondary institutions. These students started at a PDP institution in fall 2019, winter 2019, spring 2020, or summer 2020 and were seeking an undergraduate certificate, associate degree, or bachelor's degree. Regardless of the entering term, students were followed for one full year from their starting term. It is important to note that institutions actively opt in to the PDP. Therefore, while this report is able to uniquely characterize the credit accumulation and completion outcomes for a large sample of students, no findings in this report should be considered representative of the national population of students.

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This report focuses on six-year student success outcomes and college completion rates by state. The results are displayed in three sets of tables organized by institution type, showing each state's outcomes for students who started postsecondary education at four-year public institutions, two-year public institutions, and four-year private nonprofit institutions. Each set of tables provides state-level overviews of college completion outcomes. Further results are included, showing state-level six-year outcomes for students: (1) by enrollment intensity across the six-year study period - exclusively full time, and mixed enrollment; (2) by age at first entry to college - age 20 and younger, over age 20 through age 24, and over age 24; and (3) by gender - women and men who started at each institution type.

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As the eighth in the Completing College report series, the 2019 edition presents both the national six-year completion outcomes for the 2013 entering student cohort and the national eight-year results for the 2011 entering student cohort. The report looks at the various education pathways first-time students traversed toward a degree or certificate completion, as well as the completion outcomes for the different groups of students who followed each pathway from the fall of 2011 or the fall of 2013 through spring (June) 2019, that is, within eight years or six years of enrolling. The national completion rate counts all students who enter postsecondary education for the first time each year, enrolling full-time or part-time at two-year or four-year institutions, and completing at any US degree-granting institution.

It includes those who complete after transfer, not just completions at the starting institution. Thus, the results more fully capture today's students' diverse pathways to success, that increasingly involve mobility across institutions and across state lines, re-entry after stop-out, and changes in enrollment intensities. For an historical national view, this edition provides eight cohort-year trends for the six-year completion rate, as well as six cohort-year trends for the eight-year completion rate. New analyses of major fields at graduation are added for the first time in this edition.

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The supplement to this report is indexed in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 146.614. Show less