Where are 2003 High School Graduates Seven Years Later? - Paper presented at the 8th Annual National Symposium on Student Retention

Oct 9, 2026

Examines re-enrollment and degree completion through year 7 for a random sample of 24,850 ACT-tested 2003 high school graduates who immediately enrolled in college. Students are tracked using National Student Clearinghouse data, evaluating persistence or transferring for timely completion, and comparing pre-college achievement of those who persist and complete versus those who do not. Weighted descriptive statistics summarize results by institutional type, race/ethnicity, gender, income, ACT Composite, and high school average.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Data for the Study

Primary Outcomes

Where are 2003 High School Graduates Seven Years Later? Paper presented at the 8th Annual National Symposium on Student Retention New Orleans, Louisiana October 31, 2012 Justine Radunzel ACT, Inc. Abstract-As pushes for increased accountability in higher education and higher graduation rates continue, several recent studies on college graduation rates emphasize the need to consider students still on track to graduate beyond 150% of normal time, especially given the complexity of students’attendance patterns. As a first look, we describe re-enrollment and degree completion over time through year 7 for a random sample of 24,850 ACT-tested 2003 high school graduates who immediately enrolled in college. Students are tracked using National Student Clearinghouse data. This study also evaluates the implications of persisting or of transferring to another institution for timely degree completion, and compares the pre-college academic achievement of students who persist and complete a degree with that of students who do not. Weighted descriptive statistics are used to summarize the results. Results are reported by institutional type (two-vs. four-year), and by race/ethnicity, gender, annual family income, ACT Composite score, and high school average. Findings from this study show that students who persist to the second year are more likely than those who do not to complete a degree, irrespective of initial institution type, emphasizing the importance of understanding what works in student persistence for improving degree completion rates. Introduction Over the past decade, there has been a push for increased accountability in higher education in order to justify the costs and benefits associated with postsecondary education. And, although heavily debated, graduation rates have been in the forefront as a possible outcome to measure institutional accountability (Cook & Pullaro, 2010; Gold & Albert, 2006) . As a result, postsecondary institutions have been under considerable pressure to increase their degree completion rates while maintaining equal opportunity and diversity in student enrollments. Today, many students are taking longer than “normal” to complete a college degree (Horn, 2010) . Students’ attendance patterns have become increasingly complex: It is common for students to transfer from one institution to another, swirl among multiple institutions, stop out for a period of time, or change to part-time status (Adelman, 2006; Hossler, et al., 2012) . To account for these students, college graduation rates are typically reported at 150% of normal time (i.e., six-year bachelor’s and three-year associate’s degree completion rates) . Several recent articles (Cook & Pullaro, 2010; Gold & Albert, 2006) have emphasized the need to distinguish the percentage of students still on track to graduate beyond this window from those who drop out. And, effective spring 2009, the time frame for evaluating graduation rates was extended even further: the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), as part of it’s Graduation Rate Survey (GRS), now collects graduation rates from institutions at 100%, 150%, and 200% of normal time. A 2010 study based on IPEDS GRS data in 2010 (Horn) found that, between 150% to 200% of normal time, there were relatively small increases in institutional graduation rates (by 2 to 4 percentage points and 4 to 6 percentage points for four-and two-year institutions, respectively), especially in comparison to the typical increases in rates between 150% and 100% of normal time. Here, as an initial look, we extend this research by examining degree completion beyond 150% of normal time where students could be tracked across institutions attended. Specifically, we describe re-enrollment and degree completion over time through year 7 for a group of ACT-tested high school graduates who immediately enrolled in college. We also describe the share of students without a degree seven years later but wh

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the study?

The study examines how re-enrollment and degree completion evolve through year 7 for ACT-tested 2003 high school graduates and what persistence or transferring implies for timely completion.

How are students tracked in this research?

Students are tracked over time using National Student Clearinghouse data, following progress toward degree completion through the 2009–2010 academic year.

What key findings relate persistence to degree completion?

Students who persist to the second year are more likely to complete a degree than those who do not, regardless of initial institution type.

Oct 9, 2026

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