New Federal Data Highlight College Completion Rates, Net Price
By Allie Bidwell, Communications Staff
The majority of first-time, full-time college students who enrolled in four-year institutions in 2010 graduated on time, according to data released last week from the Department of Education's (ED) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The provisional data also highlighted the average net prices for students by sector, and more detailed outcome metrics based on gender, race and ethnicity, and enrollment intensity.
Overall, approximately 60 percent of students who enrolled in four-year institutions seeking a bachelor's degree in 2010 graduated within six years. Following trends from previous cohorts, American Indian and Alaska Native students had the lowest on-time completion rate, at 38.8 percent, followed by African American students, at 39.7 percent. On-time completion rates were also significantly lower at four-year proprietary institutions, at 25.6 percent. At two-year institutions, 32.8 percent of students overall who began their studies in 2013 completed within 150 percent of normal completion time, or three years.
In 2015-16, about 83 percent of college students received some type of financial aid. Of those students, about 45 percent received federal grants, 30 percent received state or local grants, and 41 percent received institutional grants. The percentage of students who received federal Pell Grants was substantially higher at four-year for-profit institutions (65 percent) than at public four-year institutions (36.6 percent) and private nonprofit four-year institutions (31.5 percent). Borrowing was also higher at four-year proprietary institutions — 72.9 percent received federal loans in 2015-16, compared with 46.5 percent at public four-year institutions, and 58.1 percent at private nonprofit four-year institutions.
Financial aid also reduced the net price for students across all sectors. At public four-year institutions, the net price overall for students after accounting for Title IV aid dropped from $19,657 to $13,072. For students from families with annual incomes of $30,000 or less, the net price dropped to $9,743. At private nonprofit four-year institutions, the overall net price dropped from $39,615 to $21,901. For students in the lowest income quartile, the net price dropped to $17,290. At private for-profit four-year institutions, the net price overall dropped from $27,823 after accounting for Title IV aid to $22,452. For students in the lowest income quartile, the net price dropped to $21,527.
The data further breaks down net price for other student categories, and provided information on applications, admissions, and enrollments by sector and enrollment intensity.
Publication Date: 1/3/2018
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