College Completion Rates on the Rise: A Positive Trend
Transfer enrollment is making a comeback, surpassing 2020 figures. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s fall 2024 Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report reveals that transfer enrollment, which comprises 13% of non-freshmen undergraduates, grew for the third straight year.
The ability to transfer between institutions provides students with greater flexibility in their postsecondary educational pathways. The Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report, which replaces the previous Transfer and Progress report series, finds that college transfer enrollment is now 7.9% greater than in the fall of 2020.
"The growth in transfers this fall is a further indication that students are adjusting postsecondary goals in response to changing education and labor market conditions," said Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. “That’s good news, especially for those who are able to return from stopouts by finding colleges that better meet their needs.”
Nearly 500,000 students transferred from a two-year to a four-year institution this past fall, a number that is now comparable to fall 2020 (-2,300, -0.5%). Although this remains the most common pathway for transfer students, the share of all transfer students that move from a two-year to a four-year institution declined 3.5 percentage points from fall 2020 to fall 2024.
Additional report highlights include:
Community College Transfer Enrollment: This past fall, 390,000 students transferred into a community college, an increase of 13.5% from the fall of 2020. However, total community college enrollment still has not recovered from pandemic declines (-52,300, -1.5% from fall 2020).
Continuing Transfer Students: The fall of 2024 saw the second straight year of enrollment growth for continuing transfer students — those who were enrolled at a different institution in the spring or summer term immediately prior.
View the complete Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report.
"The growth in transfers this fall is a further indication that students are adjusting postsecondary goals in response to changing education and labor market conditions. That’s good news, especially for those who are able to return from stopouts by finding colleges that better meet their needs."
Doug Shapiro
Executive Director, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center
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College Completion Rates on the Rise: A Positive Trend
The percentage of students who began college in the fall of 2018 and earned a credential within six years is higher than any class of students of the 12 cohort years tracked, according to a new report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. According to the Yearly Progress and Completion report, the six-year college completion rate this year grew (+0.5 pp) to 61.1% ─ a promising development after several years of stalled progress.
“Higher completion rates are welcome news for colleges and universities still struggling to regain enrollment levels from before the pandemic,” said Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. “Even as fewer students are starting college this fall, more of those who started back in 2018 have stayed enrolled through to the finish.”
The rise in completion rates can be explained by a combination of factors. First, there has been a reduction in student dropout rates (-0.4 pp; 30.2%). Second, public two-year colleges have seen an increase in the number of students earning degrees (+1.2 pp; 43.4%).
This is the first report in a new annual series, Yearly Progress and Completion. It builds on previous reports and utilizes enhanced data and methods to more accurately track and evaluate first-time college students. View the complete report here.
“Higher completion rates are welcome news for colleges and universities still struggling to regain enrollment levels from before the pandemic. Even as fewer students are starting college this fall, more of those who started back in 2018 have stayed enrolled through to the finish.”
Doug Shapiro
Executive Director, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center