Getting a college degree is crucial in achieving a promising career and becoming financially secure. However, over one-third of college students drop out and cannot complete their studies.
Most students cited personal and family problems as the reason for their dropout, while the second majority cited money problems as a reason to drop out of college.
This article provides insights into the average college dropout rates, reasons for students dropping out of college, dropout rates by state and demographics, and the effect of dropping out on their employment.
College Dropout Statistics: Top Picks (2024)
- 32.9% of the undergraduate students drop out of college.
- The average first-year college dropout rate for first-time college students is 24.1%.
- 24% of the college students cited dropping out due to money issues.
- Computer science majors have the highest dropout rates, with 10.7% of the students dropping out of college.
- Nearly one-third of college students drop out due to personal or family issues.
- California has the highest college dropout rate, with 6.61 million dropout students in 2023.
- District of Columbia has the lowest college dropout rates in the United States, with just 38.62K college dropout students in 2023.
Average College Dropout Rates
- According to the latest data, 32.9% of students in undergraduate degree programs drop out.
- 17% of the students who enrolled in colleges in May 2022 planned to drop out after that semester.
- The average 12-month college dropout rate for first-time college students is 24.1%.
- The computer science major has the highest dropout rate of 10.7%, while the advertising major has the second highest dropout rate at 7.7%.
The following table displays the majors that have the highest dropout rates.
| Major | Dropout Rates |
|---|---|
| Computer science | 10.7% |
| Advertising | 7.7% |
| Agriculture | 7.4% |
| Art | 7.3% |
| Architecture | 7.2% |
- 54.4% of the part-time college students drop out by the end of the 6th year. Comparatively, 49% of the part-time college students drop out by the end of the 4th year.
- 22.9% of full-time college students drop out by the end of the 4th year, while 26.6% of the students drop out by the end of the 6th year.
- 30% of the first-year students drop out before entering their sophomore year.
- 1 in 8 of the people listed as Forbes 400 richest billionaires were college dropouts in 2017.
- In 2022, 29.2% of the students enrolled in 2017 dropped out of college before receiving their degree.
- 31% of the students dropped out of college in fall 2022 as they wanted to find a job.
Another 31% dropped out of college because they were not sure about their interests and what they wanted to study. Additionally, 29% of the students dropped out, stating that they could not afford regular living expenses due to inflation.
- Almost 30% of the dropout students in 2022 wanted to start their own business.
- 36% of college dropout students in 2022 said that they were very likely to return to college to finish their degree.
Conversely, 31% of the students stated they would not return to college to finish their studies. Meanwhile, 33% of the dropout students said they were somewhat likely to return to complete their education.
Source: Yahoo Finance, Lantern, Research.com, WeForum.
Why Do Students Drop Out Of College?
- 32% of the students reported that they left the school due to personal or family issues.
Besides, 24% of the students in the survey stated that they dropped out of college due to a shortage of money. Meanwhile, 11% said they wished to work or pursue a career.
The following table displays the reasons cited by students for dropping out of college.
| Reason For Dropping Out Of College | Percentage Of Students |
|---|---|
| Family/ Personal issues | 32% |
| Money | 24% |
| Wanted to work or pursue a career | 11% |
| Dissatisfied with their school | 10% |
| Time commitment issues | 5% |
| Future schooling plans | 5% |
| Were Stressed/ Difficulty in learning | 4% |
| Academic failure | 4% |
| Wanted to finish a course or graduate | 4% |
| Pandemic | 3% |
| Other | 5% |
| Not sure | 1% |
Source: Best Colleges.
College Dropout Rates by Institution
- 24.4% of first-time, full-time college first-year students dropped out between 2022 and 2023 at 4-year institutions.
- The first-time, first-year students had the lowest dropout rates at for-profit schools, with just 1.63% of college dropout students between the fall semester of 2022 and 2023.
- 16% of the college students at public institutes drop out.
- 19.4% of the college students at 4-year public institutions dropped out of college in 2020. Comparatively, 40.7% of the college students at public 2-year institutes dropped out in 2020.
- 41.4% of the college students enrolled in private 4-year for-profit institutes dropped out in 2020, while 14.1% of the private nonprofit 4-year students dropped out.
- 57% of the students enrolled in four-year programs delayed their courses, while 33% dropped out in 2021.
- Only 17% of the students in public or non-flagship colleges graduate on time, while 36% of the students in private universities graduate on time.
- Only 15.9% of the students graduate from two-year colleges, and only 5% finish their degrees on time.
Source: Education data, Research.com,
College Dropout Rates by State
- California had the highest dropouts in 2023, with 6.61 million dropping out of college
This was an increase of 4% in the dropout rate compared to that recorded in 2022. At the same time, Texas had the second-highest number of college dropouts at 2.61 million.
The following table displays the states with the highest number of college dropout students in 2023.
| State | Total Dropouts In 2023 | Percentage Change From 2022 |
| California | 6,612,278 | 4.00% |
| Texas | 2,614,007 | 4.50% |
| New York | 2,011,385 | 3.20% |
| Illinois | 1,942,815 | 2.70% |
| Florida | 1,661,306 | 4.00% |
| Ohio | 1,398,230 | 2.50% |
| Washington | 1,160,584 | 3.20% |
| Michigan | 1,159,852 | 2.90% |
| Pennsylvania | 1,121,313 | 3.10% |
| North Carolina | 1,109,025 | 2.70% |
- District of Columbia has the lowest dropout rates in the United States, with just 38.62K college dropout students in 2023. However, the dropout rate in D.C. increased by 5.60% compared to that recorded in 2022.
The second-lowest dropout rate is recorded in Vermont, as just 66.96K students dropped out of college in 2023.
The following table displays the States with the lowest dropouts in the country in 2023.
| State | Total Dropouts In 2023 | Percentage Change From 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| D.C. | 38,618 | 5.60% |
| Vermont | 66,956 | 3.50% |
| Delaware | 68,540 | 7.90% |
| South Dakota | 69,787 | 4.10% |
| North Dakota | 75,358 | 3.60% |
| Wyoming | 97,491 | 3.00% |
| Hawaii | 99,625 | 3.50% |
| New Hampshire | 102,777 | 3.00% |
| Montana | 113,914 | 3.50% |
| Alaska | 121,035 | 2.60% |
Source: Education Data,
College Dropout Demographics
- The college dropout rates are low among students aged between 35 and 64 compared to those aged lower than 35 years.
- A higher dropout rate was observed among male students aged below 25. Conversely, a higher dropout rate was recorded for females aged over 25 years.
- White students have the highest dropout rate of 33.4% compared to all other races.
- Black students have a drop rate of 14.4%. Besides, Black men and women have equal rates of dropouts in degree-granting institutions.
- White men have a 17.3% dropout rate in degree-granting institutions, while white women have a dropout rate of 15.2% in the same institutions.
- Asian students have the third lowest dropout rate among all ethnicities at 2.6%.
- Comparatively, American Indians/Alaska Natives are recorded to have 1.1% of college dropout rates, the second lowest among the ethnicities.
- Only 8% to 10% of the foster care students graduated. However, if the required support is provided, then the graduation rate of foster kids increases by 44%.
- 49% of ADHD students are not on consistent medications, and as a result, they are more likely to drop out of college.
- 47% of the students with schizophrenia drop out before completing their degrees.
- At the same time, a third of the students who are diagnosed with depression leave the university before graduation.
- 14% of the Asians did not complete their college degrees in 2021.
At the same time, 35% of Asian students dropped out of two-year programs, and 10% dropped out of four-year programs.
- 21% of white students did not finish their college degrees in 2021.
- 27% of Hispanic students in the United States could not finish their degrees in 2021.
- In 2021, 36% of American Indian students dropped out from both two-year and four-year institutions.
- Over one-third (35%) of Black students in the United States dropped out of college in 2021.
- 24% of the multi-racial students were recorded to have dropped out in 2021
Source: education data, Research.com,
College Dropout Employment Rates
- Workers who have attended some years of college but have no degree have just 5.5% of the unemployment rate. This is 17% higher than the national average in the United States.
- Workers over 24 years without a college degree make an average of $899 per week. This is 14.9% less than the average worker in the United States.
- Associate degree holders make 7.1% more than the workers aged over 24 with some college but no degree.
- College dropouts earn 11.1% higher salaries compared to the average salary of a worker who has completed just a high school diploma.
- Workers who have completed bachelor’s degrees earn 48.4% higher income than college dropout workers.
- College dropouts made 43.6% higher income compared to those who do not have a high school diploma.
- Workers over 25 with some college but no degree earned a median salary of $935 in 2021. The unemployment rate of the workers in this group was 3.5%.
Source: Education data,
More On College:
- College Enrollment Statistics
- Colleges with the lowest acceptance rates
- Colleges that pay you to attend
Conclusion: The Overall Dropout Rate of College Students is 32.9%
The first-time, full-time students attending the first year of college had a dropout rate of 24.4% between 2022 and 2023. However, this dropout percentage is down from 28.9% recorded between the fall semesters of 2021 and 2022.
Additionally, the overall dropout rate of college students also decreased to 32.9%. Hence, it will be interesting to observe if the AI technologies and the other steps to avoid dropout rates help reduce the number of dropout students or if this trend continues.
