Higher Education Persistence Rates Decreasing

A recent report found a 1.2 percentage point decrease from 2009 to 2012 in the number of students who enroll in higher education and return for a second year. The numbers, known as persistence rates, measure the percentage of students who remain enrolled in any higher education institution (not necessarily the one at which they started) from one year to the next.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 68.7% of students who first enrolled in postsecondary education in Fall 2012 returned to the same or a different institution the following year, compared with a 69.9% persistence rate for students who first enrolled in Fall 2009.

Persistence rates declined by 2.8 percentage points in four-year private institutions and 2.3 percentage points in both two-year and four-year public institutions. The rate increased by 0.7 percentage points in four-year for-profit institutions.