The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education recently conducted a state-by-state survey to calculate the odds of high school freshmen eventually gaining a college degree. Best odds? New Jersey:
In New Jersey, the top-ranking state, 90 out of 100 freshmen graduate from high school. South Carolina ranked lowest in that category, with 49 out of 100 freshmen finishing high school.
Ohio was close to the national average, with 70 of 100 freshmen earning a high school degree. Of those, 40 start college right after high school, but only 29 of them make it to their sophomore year.
The NCPPHE also points out the obvious, which is that "college graduates make more money and require fewer social services."
Update: Woops! Spoke too soon. Joanne Jacobs points out in the comments that the story has it wrong. I was unable to find the survey data on the NCPPHE website yesterday, but today I found this graph. As Joanne correctly notes, New Jersey is not first when it comes to ninth-graders who ultimately graduate from college within six years. Massachusetts is first, Pennsylvania is second; NJ is eighth.
Posted by kswygert at April 14, 2004 10:34 AM