A
sizable majority of high school students are going on to obtain additional
education shortly after 12th grade, but the usual culprit—cost—is preventing
some students from enrolling in postsecondary classes.
A new
study by the U.S. Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics
followed 20,000 ninth-graders from 2009 to 2016, according to a report in Inside Higher Ed. Nearly all (92%) graduated from high school and 72% of them
had entered some type of certificate or degree program or other vocational
classes by February 2016, when the study concluded.
Not
surprisingly, 80% of the students who attended private high schools continued
their education, while fewer than 49% of those from public high schools did so.
Students who didn’t pursue postsecondary courses often cited insufficient
finances as the reason. For 40% of students who started college after high
school and then dropped out, lack of money was also the cause.
Personal
situations and “work” (presumably schedules) also kept many students from
seeking additional training or education. Employment and studies seemed to be a
tough combination: Just 7% of the students who went on to postsecondary
coursework also held full-time jobs, and only about 25% had a part-time gig
while taking classes.
Given
the number of nontraditional-aged adults currently attending colleges and
universities, no doubt some of the study’s students who haven’t continued on
will eventually enroll somewhere. However, some are in a Catch-22 of sorts;
even if grants or other aid cover all their educational expenses, 60% of them
are still struggling to pay for daily living expenses.
