Dual enrollment propped up six-year completion rates for students enrolled in college in the fall of 2019, a cohort hamstrung by the COVID-19 pandemic, new data shows.
Just over 60% of those students earned a credential within six years, a minimal decrease compared to the last cohort, according to the “Yearly Progress and Completion Report” released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
The decline was mostly driven by students who remain enrolled rather than stopping out.
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“Students who started in fall 2019 faced the challenges of the pandemic beginning in their second semester, so the fact that their completion rates remain at recent highs underscores the remarkable strength of our higher education ecosystem,” Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, said in a press release.
The report found that students with prior experience in dual enrollment were more likely to remain enrolled and earn a degree.
- Over 71% of dual enrollees earned a credential by year six, which is nearly 14% higher than their counterparts.
- Over half of the cohort with dual enrollment earned a credential within four years, just four points shy of non-dual enrollees’ six-year completion rate.
- One in three students who didn’t dual enroll eventually stopped out, compared to just one in five dual enrollees.
“Stopout rates suggest that most non-completers without prior dual enrollment are not taking longer to earn their credential, but are stopping out of postsecondary education entirely,” the report contends.
The Research Center’s latest report undergirds recent studies proving dual enrollment’s pivotal role in learners’ postsecondary success, especially among Black, low-income and Hispanic students.
Lower neighborhood income levels, and whether students have transferred schools or enroll part-time, are also critical factors in determining whether a college learner will earn a credential.
