The country’s graduation rate highlights the student’s sincerity and dedication toward education and their future. However, college graduation rates are puzzling despite the students’ financial conditions and appropriate environments.
The college graduation rate of the students recorded over the last few years is 84%. It is pretty low according to the convenience they receive.
In the following article, I have provided details about college graduation statistics and added other facts and figures related to the topic.
College Graduation Statistics: Key Takeaway
- In the last ten years, the number of college graduate students has increased by 2.8%.
- According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, only 62.3% of full-time students graduate from four-year institutes within six years.
- According to NCES, the overall 6-year graduation rate was recorded to be 60% for male students and 67% for female students.
- According to research.com, only 41% of students graduate within four years without any delay.
- According to education data.org, almost 33% of the students cannot complete their degree program. At the same time, the dropout rates of the students have increased to 40%.
- 34.98% of the students acquire a bachelor’s degree by the age of 25. At the same time, 36.98% of the students get their bachelor’s degree between the age of 25 to 30 years.
- 9% of the college students that have completed college said that they regret attending college.
- 80% of college students are overwhelmed by the time they graduate.
- 18.3% of students graduate in a STEM major, while 16.7% graduate in a business major.
- California has the highest Graduation rate. Almost 48,7890 graduate every year in the state. New York follows it with 29,6648 students graduating annually.
How many students Graduate from College?
- Almost 50% of college graduates earn Bachelor’s degrees. However, more than 23.5% of the students with bachelor’s degrees require more than four years to complete their graduation.
- Approximately 20.4% of the students graduated in the year 2020. It accounted for almost 4.090 million students.
- Between January 2020 to October 2020, around 1 million students between the age of 2o to 29 years obtained their bachelor’s degree.
- Around 4,000,000 students were forecasted to graduate from college in the year 2020 to 2021.
At the same time, 983,000 students are expected to earn an associate’s degree from colleges and universities.
- Around 1,998,000 Bachelor’s degrees are expected to be awarded to the students. On the contrary, 833,000 students are expected to earn a master’s degree.
- More than 187,000 students are predicted to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Most of the students have at least earned their bachelor’s degree, while only 50% have completed their master’s.
- Around 13% of the adults in the United States said they have an associate degree.
- Between January to October 2020, almost 306,000 people in the age group of 20 to 29 years obtained a higher bachelor’s degree.
- Less than 50% of college students graduate on time. Even after six years, many students cannot complete their education.
Source: Think impact, College education data.org.
College Graduation Rates: Demographics
College graduation demographics tell a lot about the group of students more inclined towards studying and those that remain behind in race.
In the following section, I have provided facts and figures about the college graduation demographics. I have collected this data from education data.org.
College Graduation Rates by Age
- Almost 63.8% of college students who enroll in a bachelor’s degree at age 18 or younger tend to graduate within five years of their enrollment. At the same time, 59.9% of the students that enter the bachelor’s program at 19 years old graduate within five years.
The following table displays the percentage of students in different age groups that graduate within five years.
| Age group | Percentage of students that graduate within five years. |
| 18 years or younger | 63.8% |
| 19 years | 59.9% |
| 20 to 23 years | 29.4% |
| 24 to 29 years | 20.4% |
| 30 years and older | 16.4%. |
- 76.2% of the students that enroll in college are teenagers.
- 54.6% of 18 and 19-year-olds are enrolled in college. The enrollment percentage of students aged 18 to 19 years has increased by 71.2% after 1970.
- The college enrollment rate of students aged 20 to 21 years is 50.5%. College enrollment in this age group increased by 35.7% after 1970.
- The enrollment rate of the students between the age group of 22 to 24 years is recorded to be 28%. These numbers increased from 14.9%.
The following table displays the enrollment rate of college students in different age groups and the increase in the enrollment rate.
| Age group | Percentage of enrollment rates in college | Percentage increase in the enrollment rate since 1970. |
| 18- and 19-year | 54.6% | 71.2% |
| 20- and 21-year | 50.5% | 35.7% |
| 22- to 24-year | 28% | 27% |
| 25 to 29 years | 12.7% | 69.3% |
| 30 to 34 years | 6.3% | 50% |
Source: education data.org
College Graduation rates by Gender
- 625,154 women graduated from associate degree college. This number accounted for 61.4% of the students who graduated with an associate degree. At the same time, 57.7% of the students with bachelor’s degrees were female.
The following table displays the gender of students that graduate with different degrees:
| Degree | Number of women | Percentage of students. |
| Associate’s degrees | 625,154 | 61.4% |
| Bachelor’s degrees | 1,177,168 | 57.7% |
| Master’s degrees | 517,785 | 61.4% |
| Doctorates or professional degrees | 104,953 | 55.2% |
- Men at public institutes are recorded to have a college graduation rate of 58%. While men in private, non-profit institutions have a graduation rate of 64%.
- Women at public universities have a graduation rate of 64%. At the same time, women in private, non-profit institutions have a graduation rate of 70%.
- Only 26% of male students and 25% of female students graduate from private, for-profit institutions.
Source: educationdata.org
College Graduation rates by Race
- 59.10% of the white or Caucasian students are college graduates. At the same time, 13.06% of Hispanic or Latino students graduate from college.
The following table depicts the percentage of students from different races that graduate from colleges.
| Race / Ethnicity | Percentage of college graduate students |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.61% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 6.59% |
| Black or African American | 11.10% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 13.06% |
| White or Caucasian | 59.10% |
| two or more races | 2.85% |
| nonresidents | 6.68% |
- The percentage of students from American Indian/Alaska Native that have graduated from 5-year college is 39.3%. Besides, 11.1% of the students are Black or African American in the 5-year degree.
The following table displays the percentage and the number of students with different ethnicities having a 5-year degree.
| Race / Ethnicity | Percentage of students enrolled in a 5-year degree. |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 39.3%. |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 69.3%. |
| Black or African American | 40.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 41.5% |
| White or Caucasian | 62.2% |
| two or more races | 50.4% |
- Only 0.6% of the college graduates in the United States are American Indian/Alaska Native. It accounts for 24,820 students.
The following table displays the percentage of American Indian/Alaska Native students that graduate with different degrees.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of American Indian/Alaska Native students | Number of American Indian/Alaska Native Students | Percentage of degrees |
| Associate’s degrees | 39.9% | 9,900 | 0.9% |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 39.9% | 9,900 | 0.5% |
| Master’s degrees. | 16.5% | 4,100 | 0.5% |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 3.7% | 920 | 0.5% |
- 268,680 of the students graduating from college are Asian/Pacific Islanders. They account for 6.6% of the students.
Let us take a look at the number of Asian/Pacific Islanders graduating with different degrees.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of Asian/Pacific Islanders students | Number of Asian/Pacific Islanders Students |
| Associate’s degrees | 21.7% | 58,300 |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 53.1% | 142,560 |
| Master’s degrees. | 17.7% | 47,570 |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 7.5% | 20,250 |
- Black or African American students that graduate from different colleges account for 11.1% of graduation rates. It means that 452,760 Black or African American students graduate from college.
The following table displays the percentage and number of graduate Black or African American students.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of Black or African American students | Number of Black or African American students |
| Associate’s degrees | 32.3% | 146,300 |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 44.2% | 199,980 |
| Master’s degrees. | 20.5% | 92,670 |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 3.1% | 13,810 |
- The number of Hispanic or Latino students that graduate from college is 532,720. It accounts for 13.1% of total college graduates.
Let us take a look at the number of Hispanic or Latino students that graduate with different degrees.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of Hispanic or Latino students | Number of Hispanic or Latino students. | Percentage of degrees |
| Associate’s degrees | 40.1% | 213,400 | 19.4% |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 45.3% | 241,560 | 12.2% |
| Master’s degrees. | 12.3% | 65,610 | 8% |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 2.3% | 12,150 | 6.6% |
- The number of White or Caucasian students that graduate from college is 2,410,070. It accounts for 59.1% of college graduates.
The following table depicts the number of White or Caucasian students that graduate from college with different degrees.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of White or Caucasian students | Number of White or Caucasian students. | Percentage of degrees |
| Associate’s degrees | 25.7% | 618,200 | 56.2% |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 51% | 1.23 million | 62.3% |
| Master’s degrees. | 18.7% | 451,060 | 55% |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 4.6% | 110,810 | 60.2% |
- 2.9% of college graduates are of two or more races. It equals 116,350 students.
The following table shows the number of college graduates that belong to two or more races.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of White or Caucasian students | Number of White or Caucasian students. | Percentage of degrees |
| Associate’s degrees | 27.4% | 31,900 | 2.9% |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 54.5% | 63,360 | 3.2% |
| Master’s degrees. | 14.8% | 17,220 | 2.1% |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 3.3% | 3,870 | 2.1% |
- 6.7% of college graduates are reported to be nonresidents. They account for 272,410 college graduate students.
The following table displays the percentage of nonresident students that graduate from college.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of nonresident students | The number of nonresident students. | Percentage of nonresident students out of total students |
| Associate’s degrees | 7.8% | 21,140 | 1.9% |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 32% | 87,120 | 4.4% |
| Master’s degrees. | 52.1% | 141,880 | 17.3% |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 8.2% | 22,270 | 12.1% |
- Only 10.2% of the students living in rural areas have attained an associate’s degree or some college.
- Approximately 4.5% of the people in the rural areas reported that they had at least a bachelor’s degree.
Source: education data.org.
College Graduation Rates by Major
The majority of students graduate with degrees in STEM, business, and healthcare. Let us take a look at the college graduate statistics of the students in different majors. I found this data from the research of educationdata.org.
- 18.3% of the students earn graduate degrees in STEM subjects. This accounts for 730,394 students.
The following table displays the percentage and number of STEM students graduating with different degrees.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of stem students | Number of Stem Students |
| Associate’s degrees | 12.9% | 94,487 |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 59.2% | 432,077 |
| Master’s degrees. | 23% | 168,096 |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 4.9% | 35,734 |
- 699,505 graduates are recorded to earn business degrees. It accounts for 16.7% of the total graduates.
The number of students graduating with different degrees in Business is as follows:
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of Business Students | Number of Business Students |
| Associate’s degrees | 16.8% | 117,782 |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 19.5% | 386,201 |
| Master’s degrees. | 27.5% | 192,184 |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 0.48% | 3,338 |
- 15.8% of graduate students earn a healthcare degree. This equals 631,486 students.
Here is the number and percentage of the students that graduate with different degrees in the Healthcare field.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of Healthcare Students | Number of Healthcare Students |
| Associate’s degrees | 28.7% | 181,056 |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 38.8% | 244,909 |
| Master’s degrees. | 20.4% | 125,216 |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 12.7% | 80,305 |
- Liberal Arts and Sciences are preferred by 444,754 students to graduate. This equals 11.1% of the students graduating in the field.
The following table displays the percentage of students graduating in Liberal Arts and Sciences.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of Liberal Arts and Sciences students | Number of Liberal Arts and Sciences Students |
| associates degrees | 397,926 | 89.5% |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 44,262 | 10% |
| Master’s degrees. | 2,473 | 0.56% |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 93 | 0.02% |
- 6.4% of the total graduates earn a degree in education. This equals 257,950 students graduating in the field.
Let us take a look at the number of students that graduate with an education degree.
| Graduation Degree | Percentage of education students | Number of education students |
| Associate’s degrees | 6.3% | 16,182 |
| Bachelor’s degrees. | 32% | 82,621 |
| Master’s degrees. | 56.7% | 146,367 |
| Doctorate or professional degrees. | 5% | 12,780 |
- 8.13% of the students earn a bachelor’s degree in Social science and history. At the same time, 5.97% of students have a bachelor’s in psychology.
Here is the percentage of students earning bachelor’s degrees in different fields.
| Field of Bachelor’s degree | Percentage of students |
| Business | 19.48% |
| Healthcare | 12.17% |
| Social Sciences & History | 8.13% |
| Psychology | 5.97% |
| Biological and Biomedical sciences | 5.97% |
| Engineering | 5.91% |
| Communication and Journalism | 4.79% |
| Visual and performing | 4.67% |
| Education | 4.35% |
| Other fields. | 28.55% |
Source: educationdata.org.
College Graduation rate by College type
- 42% of the students graduate within four years in the public colleges. On the contrary, only 23% of the students graduate within four years in For-Profit colleges.
Besides, 65% of the students graduate within five years in non-profit colleges, while only 27% of the students graduate from For-Profit colleges.
The following table displays the percentage of students at four-year Institutions.
| College Type | Percentage of the students that graduate within four years | Percentage of the students that graduate within five years | Percentage of the students that graduate within six years |
| Public | 42% | 59% | 63% |
| Nonprofit | 57% | 65% | 68% |
| For-Profit | 23% | 27% | 29% |
| All college Types | 47% | 61% | 64% |
Source: NCES.
- Only 19% of the students graduate with an associate degree in Public institutions. On the other side, 62% of the students graduate from a For-Profit institute with an associate degree.
The following table portrays the percentage of students that graduated with associate degrees from different college types.
| College Type | Percentage of the students that graduated with associate degree within three years |
| Public | 29% |
| Nonprofit | 52% |
| For-Profit | 62% |
| All college Types | 34% |
Source: NCES
College Graduation Statistics by State
- California is the state with the most number of college graduates. The number of graduates in the state is 487890. At the same time, the number of students that graduate in New York is 29,6648.
The following table displays the top ten states with the most college graduation rates.
| Rank | State | Number of college graduates |
| 1 | California | 487890 |
| 2 | New York | 296648 |
| 3 | Texas | 296250 |
| 4 | Florida | 241900 |
| 5 | Illinois | 165730 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | 165630 |
| 7 | Ohio | 132360 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | 124140 |
| 9 | Arizona | 115530 |
| 10 | North Carolina | 113310 |
Source: educationdata.org
- Alaska has the lowest number of college graduate students. There are 3830 college graduates in Alaska.
The following table displays the number of college graduates in the bottom ten countries.
| Rank | State | Number of college graduate students |
| 1 | Alaska | 3830 |
| 2 | Wyoming | 5833 |
| 3 | Montana | 9837 |
| 4 | South Dakota | 10444 |
| 5 | Vermont | 10555 |
| 6 | North Dakota | 11292 |
| 7 | Hawaii | 12813 |
| 8 | Maine | 13169 |
| 9 | Delaware | 14284 |
| 10 | Nevada | 18790 |
Students graduating with loans or debts
Rising college tuition fees forces many students to take college loans and debts to complete their education. Let us take a look at the number of college graduate students that take loans and debts to complete their graduation.
- 43.4 million American students take loans for their education.
- According to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, 42% of the students earn a bachelor’s degree for their college with zero debts. At the same time, 23% of the students graduate with loans less than $20,000.
The following table displays the percentage of students that graduate from colleges with different amounts of loans.
| Amount | Percentage of College Graduate Students. |
| $0 | 42% |
| $1–$19,999 | 23% |
| $20,000–$29,999 | 13% |
| $30,000–$49,999 | 15% |
| $50,000+ | 8% |
Source: Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities
Number of College Dropouts
- More than 1 million students drop out of college every year. Out of these students, almost 75% of the students dropping out from college are first-generation college students.
- Male students are likelier to drop out of college than female students. 41%of the male students dropout of college, while just 35% of the female students dropout of college.
- Approximately 40% of the students that dropout of college have a GPA of 3.0 or better. At the same time, the other 40% of the students have a B average or better.
- The overall dropout rate for undergraduate students is recorded to be 40%.
- 40% of the dropouts are recorded from families that don’t finish their education.
- Almost 30% of the students drop out within the first years of their college.
- The unemployment rate of college dropouts is recorded to be 18.6%.
- Students younger than 19 years are less likely to drop out of college. On the contrary, students between 20 and 29 years are more likely to drop out of college.
- 35% of the students drop out from two-year associate programs.
- Only 10% of dropout rates are recorded in the four-year baccalaureate degree programs.
Re-enrollment of Students after they drop out.
Sometimes a second chance is all we need. Similarly, most students re-enroll in their colleges to give themselves a second chance and complete their graduation.
Let us take a look at the re-enrollment statistics of college students.
- There is just a 30% chance for a dropout to re-enroll again in college.
- 37% of the students completed their education after re-enrolling into private, non-profit 4-year colleges.
In the same instance, 32 % of the dropouts re-enrolled in Public 4-year colleges.
The following table displays the percentage of students that have re-enrolled in colleges after they have dropped out.
| Institution | Percentage of students that re-enrolled into the colleges. |
| Private non-profit 4-year | 37 |
| Public-4 year | 32 |
| Private for-profit 4-year | 28 |
| Primarily online | 24 |
| Public 2-year | 18 |
Source: Research.com.
Historical Data of College Graduate Statistics
- In 1900, the number of college graduate students earning bachelor’s degrees was recorded to be 27,410 nationwide.
- Just 3% of adults over the age of 25 had a post-secondary degree in 1910.
- After the year 1910, the percentage of students graduating increased by 110% in the course of 30 years.
- Almost 4.6% of US adults over the age of 18 years were reported to be 4-year college graduates as of the year 1940. These numbers amounted to 4.2 million students.
- There was an increase of 28.9% in the number of students with an associate’s degree from 2000 to 2018.
- In the United States, the number of students with a graduation degree increased by 95.3 million. This increase accounted for an increase in the percentage of college graduates in the United States by 2,269%.
- In the year 1970, 30% of the students preferred to get a bachelor’s degree in education. The number of students in the year that graduated with a bachelor in education was 176,310.
Employment Rates of College Graduate Rates
- In the year 2019, college graduate students with a bachelor’s degree or higher aged 25 to 34 years were recorded to have employment higher than 87%.
- Students who attended some college and received a degree had an employment rate of 80%.
- The students who completed high school had an employment rate of 74%. On the contrary, the students who had not completed high school had an employment rate of 57%.
- The female students that did not complete high school had an employment rate of only 39%. On the contrary, female students who completed their bachelor’s degree or higher education had an employment rate of 83%.
The following table displays the percentage of employment rate according to the sex.
| Degree | Total | Male | Female |
| Less than high school | 57% | 72% | 39% |
| High school completed | 74% | 82% | 63% |
| Some college, no bachelor’s degree | 80% | 86% | 74% |
| Bachelor’s or high degree | 87% | 91% | 83% |
| Total, all educational attainment levels | 79% | 85% | 73% |
Source: thinkimpact.com.
- By the end of October 2020, almost 692,000 college graduates were employed. On the contrary, the unemployment rate of students with bachelor’s degrees increased by 12.8%.
- As of October 2020, almost 67.1% of females and 67.6% of males that recently graduated with bachelor’s degrees were employed.
- 16.1% of the male students were unemployed. At the same time, 10.2% of female students were reported to be unemployed.
- As of October 2020, almost 74.7% of the graduate students were employed. In comparison, almost 82.3% of the graduate students were employed as of October 2019.
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Conclusion
College graduation rates have been considerably impacted by covid-19 pandemic over the past few years. However, we hope college graduation rates grow in the upcoming years, looking at the necessity of obtaining degrees to find and join a sustainable job.
You can also check out our website for other interesting statistics related to college graduate students.
