The best measure of college readiness is whether students persist in college and ultimately complete a certificate or degree. Unfortunately, the state does not have a robust suite of college readiness measures, including college persistence, tied to high schools.
To get a better understanding of college persistence and completion in New York State, Ed Trust-NY examined college completion rates for 2017 high school graduates who enrolled in the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and a New York college or university and compared this 2017 cohort of students to our previous analysis that featured the 2012, 2013 and 2014 cohorts.
This analysis finds that across New York State, too many students – particularly those who graduate from high schools serving the greatest shares of students from low-income backgrounds – leave college without ever earning a certificate or degree. These findings further highlight the critical need to better support New Yorkers on the path to earning a college degree, from high school through college completion.
The findings:
- The on-time graduation rate increased 3 percentage points from the 2014 cohort to the 2017 cohort who enrolled in both two- and four- year colleges, and older analyses show that it increased every year for the 2012, 2013 and 2014 cohorts.
- Among 2017 high school graduates who participated in TAP and enrolled in both two- and four-year colleges, 32% completed a postsecondary degree on time and 63% completed a degree within six years, with both rates higher than the 2014 cohort.
- High schools that served larger shares of students from low-income backgrounds yielded lower on-time and eventual college completion rates for students who participated in TAP than high schools that served smaller shares of students from low-income backgrounds, as displayed in the table below.
- There is a 21-percentage point gap between the 6-year postsecondary graduation rate for students who were enrolled in high schools with the largest shares of students from low-income backgrounds (53%) and those who went to high schools with the smallest shares of students from low-income backgrounds (74%).
- There is a 25-percentage point gap between the on-time postsecondary graduation rate for students who were enrolled in high schools with the largest shares of students from low-income backgrounds (45%) and those who went to high schools with the smallest shares of students from low-income backgrounds (20%).
While only about a quarter of students who went to high schools with the smallest shares of students from low-income backgrounds did not complete a two or four-year degree program within six years of initially enrolling, almost half of students who graduated from high schools with the largest shares of students from low-income backgrounds had not graduated from their postsecondary program within six years.
To better serve students to and through college, we offer the following recommendations to state and education leaders:
- Provide clear criteria on what it means for students to be college and career ready.
- Invest in a statewide birth-to-workforce data system.
- Encourage and support schools and school districts in using “to and through” data to improve alignment with the expectations of colleges and universities.
- Expand access to advanced coursework for middle and high school students.
To read more about our recommendations, click here. To see the most recent data for the 2017 cohort, click here for our interactive data tool, which shows statewide findings, as well as more segmented findings by school and district.