Student Success

Half of Hispanic students enrolled in college reported that it was “difficult” or “very difficult” for them to stay in their program, according to a Sept. 27 review of recent Gallup and Lumina Foundation polling. 

That’s the highest share of any race or ethnicity tracked, the survey showed —  40%  of both Asian and Black students also said it was difficult for them to stay enrolled, followed by 37% of White students. 

The survey found that a higher share of Hispanic students reported difficulty in 2022 compared to the year before, 50% versus 45%. The latest poll was conducted Oct. 26-Nov. 17 last year. 

The survey also found that Hispanic students were the most likely racial or ethnic group to consider leaving college over a six-month period. More than half of Hispanic students, 52%, said they thought about stopping out for at least one term. 

That’s compared to 43% of Black students, 36% of White students and 30% of Asian students. All groups tracked, with the exception of Asian students, were more likely to say they considered stopping out in 2022 versus 2021, a troubling trajectory for colleges hoping to boost their completion rates. 

The survey also looks at factors pressuring students to leave college. Hispanic students, for instance, cited emotional stress, mental health, cost and difficult coursework — reasons commonly cited by other student groups as well. 

However, 47% of Hispanic students said they were parents or caregivers, the highest share of any other racial or ethnic group. 

“These added pressures may at least partly explain why more Hispanic students considered stopping out,” Julie Ray, writer and editor at Gallup, said in a blog post explaining the survey results. 

Of Hispanic students who considered stopping out, 14% mentioned caring for an adult family member or a friend as a reason. That’s compared to 9% of both White and Black students. Similarly, 13% of Hispanic students cited child care responsibilities as the reason they thought about leaving college, compared to 8% of both White and Black students. 

Hispanic students commonly cited several factors as helping them to stay enrolled. Those included financial aid, belief their program had value, enjoyment of their program, increased personal income, schedule flexibility and the desire to finish their program quickly.

Over 4 in 5 college seniors have experienced burnout during their undergraduate experience, marked by chronic exhaustionl and lack of motivation, according to a new survey from early career platform Handshake. 

More than one-quarter of respondents, 29%, said they frequently felt burnt out during their undergraduate career. That’s compared to 51% of seniors who reported being burnt out sometimes and 16% who said they felt that way rarely. 

The class of 2024 expects to carry those feelings into their early careers. A large majority of respondents, 80%, said they’re worried about burnout once they enter their professions. 

The class of 2024 largely began college during the pandemic’s early days, meaning the beginning of their undergraduate career was marked by social isolation, virtual learning and economic uncertainty. During that period, many college students reported worsening mental health. 

“You’re looking at a generation and a class of students that, quite frankly, have been through the wringer,” said Christine Cruzvergara, chief education strategy officer at Handshake. “They’ve had to study from home, they’ve watched some of their loved ones pass away. The pandemic was a really big defining moment in their life.”

Recent polls show those trends have continued even as pandemic-era restrictions have eased. 

A May survey from College Pulse and Inside Higher Ed found 56% of college students experienced chronic stress. Students with disabilities and mental health conditions reported even higher levels of chronic stress.

These issues can drive students to leave college. Around 2 in 5 students considered stopping out of college in 2022 within a six-month period, up from 37% the year before, according to a recent survey from the Lumina Foundation and Gallup. Students cited emotional stress and mental health as the top reasons for possibly leaving higher education. 

College debt is also weighing heavily on students’ minds, according to the new Handshake poll. 

More than half of college seniors expect to have student loan debt when they graduate next year, it found. And more than two-thirds of respondents, 69%, believe their debt will impact which jobs they consider after getting their diploma. 

As a result, students might forgo careers in lower paying industries because they feel pressured to earn enough to cover their loan payments, plus the cost of living, Cruzvergara said. For some students, that might mean delaying what they’re really interested in doing.

“As much as I would love to choose a job based on passion and work life balance, I do not think that will be possible due to loans and finances,” one college senior said in the survey. 

To help with this issue, colleges should ensure they have strong career centers that reach all students. 

“The process of getting a job is not intuitive,” Cruzvergara said. “Students need tips and advice, and they need to be taught and educated on how to go through that process. The earlier they start to learn that, the easier it will become through repetition.” 

The Biden administration has been trying to ease student loan burdens. The U.S. Department of Education recently rolled out a new income-driven repayment program called the SAVE Plan. 

It lowers the share of discretionary income that borrowers need to pay each month for their student loans from 10% to 5%. It also raises the income threshold borrowers must meet before they’re expected to make payments, opening the way for many borrowers to pay nothing. 

The persistence rate among first-year college students has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Of first-year students who enrolled in fall 2021, 75.7% returned to college by the following year. That's the same average persistence rate seen among the 2016, 2017 and 2018 freshman classes.

Community colleges, public four-year institutions and private nonprofit colleges all increased their persistence and retention rates between fall 2021 and fall 2022. But four-year for-profit colleges and those that primarily grant associate degrees saw declines.

The persistence rate refers to students who return to college in their second year, regardless of which institution they attend. Retention refers to the share of students who come back to the same institution.

The increased persistence rate was driven by a larger share of second-year students returning to their starting institution, according to the report.

Just over two-thirds of students who entered college in fall 2021, 67.2%, returned to or earned a credential at the institution they started at within a year of enrollment. That's up from 66.4% the previous year and half a percentage point higher than the pre-pandemic average.

Retention rates nationwide rose regardless of whether students attended full time or part time.

However, persistence rates didn’t see the same across-board increases. They remained largely unchanged for part-time students, while they increased for full-time students, the report said. 

But at for-profit and public four-year institutions, lower percentages of part-time students returned and stayed compared to the year before.

Public two-year colleges experienced increases in full-time and part-time persistence, the only institution type to do so. This report marks the second year in a row that community colleges saw such improvements.

Their success could be, in part, due to the kinds of programs they offer. Short-term credentials in skilled trades such as construction, mechanic and repair technologies, and culinary services saw more students persisting, the report said.

Computer science programs saw significant increases in enrollment, and students persisted and stayed at their institutions at greater levels than the year prior. Healthcare programs saw similar retention and persistence results. 

Researchers also found improved persistence and retention rates among younger first-time college students. On both metrics, those aged 20 or younger saw increases of 1.4 percentage points.

But those over the age of 25 — nontraditional students who face additional challenges to degree completion — saw large declines to both persistence and retention, regardless of sector.

Stubborn racial and ethnicity gaps continued to appear when researchers disaggregated the data. 

Asian students who entered college in fall 2021 persisted at a rate of 88.4%, the highest rate tracked by the clearinghouse. In contrast, persistence among Native American students was the lowest of any racial and ethnic group, 62.1%.

But that number represents an improvement following dramatic decreases last year. Among Native American freshmen in fall 2020, the persistence rate fell to 60.1%, dropping 2.8 percentage points from the prior year.

Another bright spot was persistence and retention among Latinx students. Both rates improved for Latinx freshmen in the fall 2021 cohort at most institution types. The only exception was baccalaureate colleges that primarily grant associate degrees.

The U.S. has at least 425 free college programs, from statewide initiatives to individual institutions launching their own tuition-free offerings, according to the latest count from College Promise, a nonprofit advocating for free postsecondary education. That's up from 53 programs the organization identified in 2015.

Still, students face nontuition expenses, which many free college programs don’t cover. Colleges should combine their existing financial support to make the largest impact, the nonprofit suggested. 

Institutions should also individually customize how they meet each student’s financial needs. To help colleges meet learners’ needs, College Promise identified 10 student groups, including student parents and students with disabilities, and the different types of support they need from their institutions to earn their degree. 

College Promise worked with ETS, a testing provider that makes the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, to understand the different types of students who enroll in free college programs. The two organizations created design teams composed of subject matter experts and student representatives to understand the barriers different groups face. 

For instance, the report identifies traditional-aged students, which are between ages 18 and 24, as one critical population. While many of these students enroll in college right after completing high school, they may face several potential challenges, including mental health issues, housing and food insecurity and insufficient academic preparation. 

In contrast, adult students, another key population, may be financially independent and employed — potentially an asset to completing college. But the postsecondary college system isn’t well-equipped for this population, which must often balance work, higher education and family obligations. 

Different student groups will need varying types of support, the report said. While traditional students could benefit from peer mentoring and tutoring, adult students may be helped more by flexible class schedules and student services hours. 

"College Promise programs are a proven means of helping students access, persist in, and graduate from higher education. But because we know students aren't a monolith, we created a way to set up these design teams to help us understand — and better address — the needs of those specific populations," College Promise CEO Martha Kanter said in a statement.

Other groups identified in the report include undocumented students, student veterans and first-generation students. 

Colleges should be aware that students may belong to more than one of these groups, the report says. Moreover, resources set up for one population may benefit others, such as flexible class schedules supporting adult students who are employed and student parents who have to provide childcare. 

Institutions should also automatically enroll students in certain services, such as academic and personal advising, instead of expecting them to sign up. Students who don’t need these offerings can opt out, the report argues. 

Further, it advises colleges to rebrand certain services to lower the stigma surrounding them. Food pantries, for instance, could be renamed nutrition centers. 

"Not every organization readily accepts mental health as a strategic priority. Not every organization has these types of resources readily available. But that shouldn't stop you or anyone, as a manager or leader, from supporting the cause."

That was the advice June 27 from Merica Shepherd, senior director of Total Rewards, the health and well-being benefits program at the University of Virginia, during a conference at Johns Hopkins University on challenges facing graduate faculty and students.

The conference, the National Summit on Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing, hosted by the university's school of public health, comes on the heels of research that found mental health among college students and employees worsened last year. 

Such trends undercuts a college community's ability to strengthen and grow, said Joni Troester, senior assistant vice president for human resources at the University of Iowa, during a Tuesday panel of leaders from large public institutions. 

"Safety and security, and specifically psychological safety, is really foundational for well-being on our campuses, and that's true whether you're a student, a graduate student, a faculty member, adjunct, postdoc, or staff member," Troester said.

‘We need scalability’

The University of Iowa relies heavily on institutional surveys to make data-driven decisions around mental health resources, Troester said. Employees are asked if they believe their supervisors and physical work environment support well-being. The addition of well-being questions to student surveys is underway, she said.

"At the end of the day, probably what I've learned most in the last few years, is the qualitative data — really listening to understand where people are coming from — is what makes a difference," she said.

Troester, along with her counterpart in student life, co-chairs the university's well-being committee, composed of 26 students, faculty, staff and representatives from the university's medical center. The members further break into groups focusing on topics like mental health, basic needs and the physical campus.

When sorting through ideas and feedback, scope is crucial for a large institution like the University of Iowa.

"We need scalability. We need to embed it into the culture and systems that already exist," she said. 

Troester highlighted two new initiatives to address mental health on campus.

In 2022, the University of Iowa introduced a texting-based service, recharge+, designed to improve resilience among employees. For a month, users received behavioral nudges to proactively encourage positive mental health, such as a suggestion to take a break outside or reevaluate how the day gets scheduled. Over 3,500 University of Iowa employees used the service, and 53% of employees reported higher levels of resilience after 30 days, according to Troester.

The university also began requiring mental health awareness training for incoming students, Troester said. The online simulation-based program, offered by educational software company Kognito, is meant to make students aware of mental health red flags, both in themselves and their peers, and teach them how to start conversations around this issue.

Faculty and staff have also been heavily encouraged to complete the roughly 35-minute module. About 1,800 of them have taken the training so far, Troester said, and that number will continue to rise as the module is incorporated into the employee onboarding process.

Viewing employees holistically

Academics share similarities with military veterans and healthcare workers, in that they are geared toward service and working for something bigger than themselves, according to Kelcey Stratton, clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Michigan.

"There is a unique confluence of work and identity and purpose that is so important in these kinds of occupations. And yet, it comes with unrelenting demands and stressors," Stratton said.

The University of Michigan, like many institutions, offers an employee assistance program. Interest in short-term counseling has risen by 35% to 40% in the last few years, holding steady since spiking during the early days of the pandemic, according to Stratton. 

The university has also worked to help address employee challenges outside of the workplace. For instance, it recently expanded its emergency hardship program to help employees weather economic instability. That program has provided one-time financial assistance for many years, but more recently has begun offering coaches to help navigate external services, like housing benefits and energy bill assistance, Stratton said.

Being a state flagship means the University of Michigan has more resources than other institutions — but that also brings challenges.

"It's a large community," Stratton said. "Not everyone is going to need or want the same thing."

In some situations, that has led to two beneficial ideas seeming to be diametrically opposed.

"The flexibility to work remotely or in a hybrid fashion may come at the cost of some social connection or opportunities to build community," Stratton said. "So broad organizational policies may not work very well to meet the nuances of day-to-day life."

Mental health across departments

Panelists stressed the importance of cross-campus collaboration. Shepherd, from the University of Virginia, urged college leaders to think of mental health as more than an organizational responsibility or a box to check. 

"By no means am I insinuating that we're responsible for the treatment," Shepherd said. "But research does show that exhibiting supportive behavior makes a major impact."

She gave examples such as holding one-on-one meetings with direct reports, being present during conversations, and acknowledging and openly discussing any challenges that may be top of mind.

"Stigma stays pervasive through lack of understanding, discomfort and uncertainty around the topic," she said.

If managers brush off mental health as solely a human resources problem, that diffusion of responsibility dramatically reduces the likelihood a staff member will come forward when they are struggling, Shepherd said.

"An employee coming forward to say they're struggling is improbable — if not nearly impossible — if they have a manager that they don't trust or if they have a manager who makes it clear that they don't care," she said.

University employees will often stay quiet if they believe being open about their mental health issues could result in managerial bias against them, or in gossip or negative reactions from coworkers, according to Shepherd. 

"Manager support is absolutely linked to reducing stigma and being part of the solution in a very significant way," she said.

The California State University system needs to "reimagine long‐held assumptions around student success" to close college achievement gaps for its Black students, according to a report in June from a Cal State workgroup.

Each of Cal State's 23 institutions should develop a data-driven retention plan for Black students and other groups facing similar persistence gaps, the report said. They should also create an inclusive and culturally relevant curriculum to engage students, as well as provide the employee training needed to teach such subject matter.

Black faculty and staff are crucial to these goals, according to the report. The workgroup recommends that Cal State prioritize recruiting faculty members with a record of teaching and conducting research with diverse students. It should also invest in supporting Black employees.

Cal State bills itself as the country's most diverse four-year public university system. But it is experiencing an ongoing decline in the enrollment and retention of Black students, despite an initiative meant to increase graduation rates, the report said.

Under the Graduation Initiative 2025, Cal State’s graduation rates have reached record highs, according to the system. Of first-year students who enrolled in fall 2016, 62% earned their degree in six years. 

But the data disaggregated by race shows a persistence gap in student outcomes. Less than half of Black first-year students in the same cohort, 48%, earned their degree in that timeframe, according to the report. 

In October, the system's interim chancellor, Jolene Koester, urged the system to address these issues, leading to the creation of the Strategic Workgroup on Black Student Success. University presidents, administrators and system officials comprised the group. 

Systemwide, Cal State should give university leaders access to disaggregated data and campus climate data so they can create informed practices to improve academic outcomes, the group said in the report. The Chancellor’s Office should also meet regularly with these leaders to foster a data-informed culture.

However, many of the workgroup's recommendations are at the institutional level. 

"The CSU is facing a potential future where Black students and Black excellence may be unrecognizable if action is not taken," it said, arguing that a one‐size‐fits‐all approach will not succeed.

Each university must create an early outreach program with K-12 schools and community partners to help smooth the transition between secondary education and college, the report said. They should send plans for the program to the Chancellor’s Office for approval. 

Student and faculty feedback also guided the recommendations.

"Money and resources are put into getting Black students to attend CSU, but no effort is put into retention," one student told the workgroup. "There are too few Black faculty and staff, and these small numbers don’t have enough power or job security to be effective in support of Black students.”

The report recommends that Cal State universities create and foster affirming spaces for Black students to support them once they have enrolled. 

It also emphasized the importance of supporting Black university employees. Cal State should invest in employee support services and fund academic work related to affinity groups focused on Black culture and tradition. The universities should also foster dialogue between college leadership and Black faculty and staff to help address diversity, equity and inclusion goals.

"I don’t want it to just be a show — we need a cultural shift," a Cal State faculty member said. "If this is performative, I’m not down for it.”

After Samer Hassan graduated with honors from a Chicago community college, he enrolled at Columbia University to put himself on a better economic path. But he initially found life at the top-ranked university difficult. 

As someone who describes himself as having grown up undocumented, he felt alienated by a culture of economic privilege. And he struggled to pay for meals and housing, even though he received a full-tuition scholarship.

Hassan also didn’t think his community college curriculum prepared him for Columbia’s academic rigor.

“Day one, it hit me very hard, knowing that I have no idea what these professors are referencing,” said Hassan, who is now the storytelling and engagement manager at Young Invincibles, a nonprofit advocacy organization. “I had to spend a lot more time studying than I originally thought.” 

Selective colleges should be more welcoming of community college transfer students, said Hassan, who graduated in 2020. But the odds are stacked against transfer students hoping to get admitted to and complete their education at prestigious institutions, like those in the Ivy League. 

Hassan said he encountered a narrative at Columbia that he should feel lucky to be there. 

“It’s like, ‘No, I actually worked my butt off to be here,'” Hassan said.  “You guys should actually feel lucky to have me and have my lived experiences and my perspective.”

Some groups and colleges are trying to improve these issues by creating new models to build connections between the two sectors. 

Each year, around 50,000 high-achieving, low-income community college students aren’t transferring to four-year colleges, according to Tania LaViolet, director at the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program, which is looking to boost this type of transfer. Moreover, 15,000 students in this group have a GPA of 3.7 or higher. 

“That demonstrates that they could excel at really any college in the country,” LaViolet said. “There’s so much talent left on the table that isn’t supported to meet their full potential.”

The problem

It’s not hard to imagine why community college students might want to attend a well-known university. 

Highly selective colleges often have resources and connections that less prominent institutions lack. And their exclusivity tends to come with material benefits for admitted students, such as higher post-graduation earnings than community college students. 

But barriers abound for community college students who want to enroll in these institutions. 

The first is that some four-year institutions simply do not admit community college transfer students. Although that’s historically been an issue, selective colleges are now shifting their practices and opening themselves more to these students, LaViolet said. 

Another hurdle can be that community college students don’t know that a well-regarded four-year college is an option for them. 

“What we hear consistently from students is an education from a top private college isn’t on their radar for the most part,” LaViolet said. 

But a recommendation from a teacher or adviser can lead to a breakthrough. “All it took was someone saying, ‘I think you could do this,’” she said.

Even when students understand they can apply to transfer to a highly selective college, they may believe it will be too expensive. Eye-popping sticker prices often put off low-income students, even if most people don’t end up paying the full price. 

Part of the solution to that, LaViolet said, is for institutions that offer generous financial aid to better communicate their affordability to students. 

Four-year institutions could also accept more community college credits, which help students spend less time finishing their education. 

“It doesn’t send a very good inclusive message when you admit students and don’t take their credits,” LaViolet said.  

Some evidence suggests that when community college students manage to transfer to a four-year college, they may be more likely than other students to transfer to a selective one. 

A 2019 study compared students who transferred from community colleges with those who transferred from four-year institutions. The community college students were more likely than the four-year students to attend a very selective or moderately selective university. 

“The same subgroups of students who are overrepresented at community colleges — low-income students, racially minoritized students, adults, parents, etc. — are also initially underrepresented at highly selective institutions,” said Justin Ortagus, one of the study’s authors and professor and director of the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Florida. 

“The community college is preparing these students to be put in a position to succeed later.”

Working on change

LaViolet is part of the Aspen Institute's initiative to change the relationship between highly selective universities and community colleges. Launched in January 2021, the Transfer Scholars Network connects 12 community colleges and 13 highly selective four-year universities that offer generous financial aid. 

Participating community colleges nominate high-achieving, low-income students, who are given support and access to admissions staff from the four-year institutions they are interested in attending. 

The selective colleges are asked to support community college transfer students and be open to accepting their credits. The network model allows the colleges and universities to learn from each other. 

Some of the network’s institutions are among the most selective in the country, including Princeton and Yale universities, Williams College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

In the fall 2022 admissions cycle, LaViolet said, 372 students participated in the initiative, although not all of them were ready to apply that upcoming cycle. Of those students, 120 applied to institutions within the network, and 16 transferred to them. Another 113 who transferred eventually enrolled in institutions with graduation rates above 70%. 

“The vision for the Transfer Scholars Network is to advance the future where any community college student across the nation can see just how far their talents can take them,” LaViolet said.

Some community colleges are independently working on similar missions to increase the number of their students who transfer to selective institutions. Hudson Valley Community College in New York, for example, is creating an honors college with a rigorous curriculum to send students to top institutions. 

“Our focus with the honors college is to take the best and the brightest that are coming from our high schools and tell them that they can achieve even more,” said Lamyaa Hassib, director of the honors college. “They are going to get this education that is going to carry them forward to be even more successful.”

Part of the draw for students in the honors college will be a tuition-free experience. Officials are working to build relationships with four-year institutions, with the goal that those universities might set aside spots for Hudson Valley honors college students. 

“That is not the norm at any institution in the U.S. Normally, students have to compete to get in,” said Roger Ramsammy, president of Hudson Valley. “When you hear that our curriculum is at the rigorous level, and is equal or better than what they are currently doing, it only says that there’s a great possibility that most of these requests for slot reservations will be provided.”

The opportunity to go to a highly selective institution, Ramsammy said, is a rare and valuable one.

“We’re really trying to give people access,” he said. “We are as good or equal at giving folks an opportunity, and they should look at community colleges in that way.”

More than 2 in 5 college students said they considered stopping out of their academic programs within a six-month period, according to a survey released May 3 from the Lumina Foundation and Gallup. 

The organizations polled more than 6,000 students seeking a credential, as well as thousands of adults who either stopped out of college or never enrolled in the first place. Not only did 41% of students mull stopping out, but also those shares were higher for Black and Hispanic students — 43% and 52%, respectively.

More than half of students who considered stopping out attributed their thinking to emotional stress. A little under half reported they were considering stopping due to personal mental health reasons, and just under 30% said it was because of college costs.

College enrollment has been under pressure for years, as some institutions grapple with fewer high school graduates and students opting to go directly into the workforce. The pandemic ratcheted up those difficulties, challenging recruitment and stressing colleges’ bottom lines. 

The higher education world is just now seeing hints of recovery. Undergraduate enrollment is still on the decline, but it only fell 0.6% from fall 2022 year over year, according to National Student Clearinghouse Research Center data. That’s the smallest decrease since the coronavirus began to spread.

The Gallup and Lumina Foundation research sheds light on the stressors that are forcing some students out and keeping others from enrolling. 

Enrolled students cited financial aid as a top reason for staying in college.

Just under 60% of both associate and bachelor’s degree students said this aid was very important. This is a larger share than in 2021, when half of those pursuing associate degrees and 52% of those enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs said financial aid was very important.

In the most recent survey, 52% of both groups of students said the value of their future credentials was very important.

Among students who aren’t enrolled in college, a little less than half reported that they’d consider doing so in the past two years. Of that group, 61% of students who had stopped out said they had considered reenrolling in that timeframe, while 36% of those who had never attended college said they thought it over.

Nearly 60% of Black adults and 53% of Hispanic adults said they had considered enrolling. That’s an increase from 51% of Black adults and 44% Hispanic adults in 2021.

Unenrolled students tended to prefer associate degree and short-term programs over bachelor’s degrees. Of the adults who thought about reenrolling in the last two years, 40% considered pursuing an associate degree and another 40% said they wanted a certificate. That’s compared to 27% who considered a bachelor’s degree and another 27% who considered an industry certification.

If all eligible workers entered a bachelor’s degree program by the age of 22, roughly 765,000 more young adults would hold good jobs by age 30, according to a new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. 

Georgetown researchers developed a policy simulation model that identified turning points in young adults' lives that can elevate them to good jobs. Several of those focus on educational attainment, like starting a certificate or associate’s degree by age 22 or earning a bachelor’s degree by age 26 after previously working toward a certificate or associate degree.

Other turning points center on workforce development, such as specializing in career and technical education in high school and working a blue-collar job at age 22.

"Our research clearly indicates that the bachelor’s degree is still the most traveled pathway to a good job. But through this work, we also find there are alternative pathways to good jobs through career and technical education (CTE) and work experience,” Anthony Carnevale, director of CEW and lead author on the report, said in a statement. 

The report defines a good job as one earning a minimum of about $38,000 per year for workers under age 45.

Combining the interventions, Carnevale said, can strengthen their efficacy.

For example, if eligible students not only entered a bachelor's program by age 22 but went on to finish their degrees, 1.2 million additional adults would hold good jobs by age 30. That's up from 765,000 if the students had only enrolled.

Bridging the gaps to good employment, however, is even more complicated than making the 10 changes recommended in the report available to everyone equally. 

Almost every change recommended is likely to boost more men than women into good jobs, according to the report. The only exception is working in a STEM or another high-paying occupation at age 22.

The gender wage gap must be addressed, but there's less room to fix women's economic outcomes through college attainment alone, the report said. Women already have higher levels of education than men on average.

Disparities also exist among young adults of different races and ethnicities. Learning CTE skills in high school, for example, raises the likelihood of having a good job at age 30 for Black and White students but hurts the odds for Hispanic/Latino students, the report said.

"Addressing disparities in access to good jobs also requires combating bias and discrimination in the labor market, directing investments toward individuals from historically disadvantaged groups, and raising wages in undervalued occupations that are mostly filled by workers from marginalized groups and are crucial to the functioning of our society," Zack Mabel, report co-author and research professor at CEW, said in a statement.

Mabel advised policymakers to create a coordinated strategy to address both expanding economic opportunity and economic justice.

The 10 interventions outlined as leading to good jobs include: 

• Specializing in CTE in high school.
• Starting a certificate or associate’s degree program by age 22.
• Starting a bachelor’s degree program by age 22.
• Being continuously employed from ages 20 to 22.
• Having a blue-collar job at age 22.
• Having a STEM or other high-paying job at age 22.
• Completing an associate’s degree by age 26 after starting a certificate or associate’s degree program.
• Completing a bachelor’s degree by age 26 after starting a certificate or associate’s degree program.
• Completing an associate’s degree by age 26 after starting a bachelor’s degree program.
• Completing a bachelor’s degree by age 26 after starting a bachelor’s degree program.

Colleges and states are missing out on opportunities to reengage stopped-out students even as that population is growing, according to a report released April 25 by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

The number of former students with some college credit but no degree increased to 40.4 million between July 2020 and July 2021. That's up 3.6% from 39 million the previous year.

But despite the increase in numbers, fewer "some college, no credential" students reenrolled in college, persevered past their first year of reenrollment, or completed a credential in the 2021-2022 academic year over the previous year.

Amid a rapidly approaching enrollment cliff for traditional students, colleges are increasingly looking to engage those who have stopped out as a way to bolster their student bodies.

But the disconnect between the rising number of stopped out students and those returning to higher education shows there's room for improvement, according to the clearinghouse.

The report identified two groups of "some college, no credential" students that should be of interest to states and institutions considering reenrollment potential, Doug Shapiro, the research center’s executive director, said Monday.

Students who stopped out since May 2022 and "potential completers" — those who enrolled in college full time for at least two years in the last decade — held the most promise for reenrollment and completion outcomes, the report said. 

Only 2.1% of "some college, no credential" students across the board reenrolled in 2021. But during the same time period, 9.4% of recently stopped-out students reenrolled, as did 6.1% of potential completers.

​​Potential completers also saw improved outcomes when broken down by race, the report found.

Just 22.8% of Black “some college, no credential” students earned a bachelor’s degree within one year of re-enrolling, which was below the national average of 25.7%. But among Black potential completers, 38.4% earned a bachelor’s in the same time period — just a hair shy of the national average of 38.8%.

Among students who reenrolled, 38.8% returned to the college they originally attended, the report said. But community colleges were the most popular type of institution overall for reenrollment, including for students switching their type of institution. 

Some 44.4% of reenrolling students who previously attended a public four-year college elected to attend a community college upon returning, the report said. Likewise, 37.5% of former students at four-year for-profit institutions also opted for community college when they returned.

"The No. 1 destination is a community college, regardless of where they stopped out," Shapiro said on a call with reporters Monday.

Once reenrolled, formerly stopped-out students behave differently from other nontraditional students, according to Mikyung Ryu, director of research publications at the center.

"As long as they come back and reenroll, they are more likely to stay put without transferring out to another institution," Ryu said Monday. "Not changing institutions also means a shorter time to completion and a lower likelihood to lose their credits in a transfer."

A majority of "some college, no credential” students, 66.7%, were under the age of 35 when they left higher ed. Recent stop-outs and potential completers skewed younger. 

Over half of potential completers, 55.6%, were 20 to 24 years old when they last enrolled, and 24.6% of recent stop-outs were under 20 years old.