College enrollment rate among recent high school graduates ticks up

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College enrollment rate among recent high school graduates ticks up

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found improvement across both high- and low-poverty high schools.

Published Sept. 17, 2026

Laura Spitalniak

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Graduates from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School line up to receive their diplomas during a graduation ceremony on May 21, 2021, in Bradley, Ill.

Scott Olson via Getty Images

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Dive Brief:

The share of the high school graduating class of 2025 who immediately enrolled in college ticked up slightly from the previous cohort, according to data released Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The increase came regardless of the economic makeup of their high school.

At low-poverty high schools, 73.9% of the class of 2025 attended college the fall after graduation, compared to 73.1% of the prior year’s cohort. The same was true of 51.2% of high school graduates at high-poverty schools in 2025 versus 50.8% in 2024, the clearinghouse said.

Persistence rates also improved, with graduates from the class of 2023 returning to higher education for their second year at higher rates than the 2022 cohort.

Dive Insight:

Matthew Holsapple, the clearinghouse's senior director of research, called the improvements in persistence modest but an indicator of positive trends.

“What stands out most is that graduates of high-poverty high schools saw the largest gains in both enrollment and persistence," he said in a statement Thursday.

Among 2023 graduates of these schools who enrolled in higher education, 76% returned to college for their second year, compared to 74.3% from the previous cohort.

A significant majority of students who graduated from low-poverty high schools in 2023, 90.6%, persisted to their sophomore year. That's up slightly from 89.4% among the class of 2022.

College persistence rates tick up for recent high school graduates

Persistence rates from first to second year of college by high school class

The immediate college-going rate wasn't the only metric that improved.

Among the high school class of 2023, 58.7% of students from high-poverty schools enrolled in college within two years of graduating, up from 56.6% among the class of 2022. At low-poverty schools, that share rose from 75.9% among 2022 graduates to 77.9% among 2023 graduates.

College-going increased among high school graduates from different areas

Rate of college enrollment within two years by high school class

College enrollment within two years also ticked up among high school graduates regardless of where they attended school. Urban schools saw the biggest increase. Among their 2023 graduates, 67.1% attended college within two years of graduating. That's up from 65.2% among 2022 graduates.

The gains among 2023 graduates from other high schools were smaller. The rate rose 0.4 percentage points year over year to 60.9% at rural high schools and 0.2 percentage points to 70.4% at suburban high schools