College Student Persistence Rate Improves Again, Hits Nine-Year High

Forbes

3 days ago

National college retention and persistence rates improved again last year, but part-time students ... More persisted at a substantially lower rate than full-time enrollees.
More than 77% of the millions of students who entered college for the first time in the fall of 2023 returned to college for a second year or earned a credential within the year. That rate represents a slight uptick (0.3 percentage points) over the prior year, and it continues four consecutive years of improved persistence.
The national first-year persistence rate is now at the highest level in the past nine years, according to the 2025 Persistence and Retention report, which was released today by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
The report found that 69.5% of students entering college in fall 2023 returned to their starting institution for their second year (the retention rate), 0.4 percentage points higher than for the previous year's freshman class. An additional 8.1% transferred from their starting college and continued their enrollment at another institution in their second fall (yielding a persistence rate of 77.6%).
The report is the latest in a NSCRC series tracking the percentage of students who stay in college after their initial semester. For the first time this year, the report tracks persistence and retention rates at two key points in time: first spring (re-enrollment in the spring term immediately following the first fall) and second fall (re-enrollment in the second fall term).
NSCRC found that 83.7% of students entering college in Fall 2023 returned to their same institution in the Spring semester, while an additional 2.6% persisted in college but at a different institution than where they started. A total of 13.6% of the entering 2023 freshmen cohort was no longer enrolled in college by the spring term.
'We've been focused on second fall persistence for years, but that's too long to wait for many institutions, who seek earlier indicators of student success,' said Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, in a news release.
'Today's report helps schools focus on supporting students who are at risk sooner. This is especially important for part-time students, older students and those who start at community colleges, where first spring persistence rates are lower,' Shapiro added.
Among fall 2023 starters, first spring persistence was 67.4% for part-time students, compared to 92.1% for their full-time peers. Part-time starters achieved a second fall persistence rate of only 53.2%, dramatically lower than the 84.4% persistence of full-time starters.
Students who began at public four-year institutions had the highest one-year persistence rate at 87.2%. They were followed by those attending private, nonprofit four-year colleges (86.7%), public two-year schools (62.5%) and private, for-profit institutions (60.7%).
The size of the persistence gap between part-time and full-time students also differed by institutional sector. Private for-profit schools had the smallest differences in persistence rates between part-time and full-time students (11.6 percentage points). In contrast, the private nonprofit 4-year sector exhibited the largest disparity, with a gap of 38.2 percentage points.
Among full-time students starting college in Fall 2023, those aged 20 or younger had a spring persistence rate of 93.2%, compared to 79% for those aged 21–24 and 72.6% for those 25 or older. First spring retention rates followed a similar pattern. Students 20 or younger were retained at a 90.6% rate; retention was 77.6% for those 21–24, and 71.4 percent for those 25 or older.
Women's second fall persistence rate (79.3%) exceeded that of men (76.3%), continuing a trend that's been apparent for several years.
Asian students had the highest second fall persistence rate at 89.6%, followed by white students (82.8%), internationals (76.4%), Hispanics (73.3%), Blacks (68.9%), Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders (67.2%), and Native Americans (65.9%).
Second fall persistence and retention rates increased for students pursuing bachelor's degrees in 9 of the top 10 most popular undergraduate majors.
The notable exception was computer science, which was the only top-10 major field to see a decline in both second fall persistence and retention rates (persistence: 86.1%, -0.8 percentage points; retention: 78.1%, -0.8 percentage points).
This same pattern also was found for first spring persistence and retention rates, where all top 10 major fields experienced either stability or growth — except computer science, which saw small declines.
The NSCRC is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse. It collaborates with higher education institutions, states, school districts, high schools, and educational organizations to gather accurate longitudinal data that can be used to guide educational policy decisions. NSCRC analyzes data throughout the year from 3,600 postsecondary institutions, which represented 97% of the nation's postsecondary enrollment in Title IV degree-granting institutions in the U.S., as of 2020.