Completion

While more students than ever are graduating from high school and accessing college, completion rates at two and four-year colleges and universities in our nation are not keeping pace. A 2015 study from the National Student Clearinghouse found that only around half (53%) of students who enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities in the fall of 2009 completed their programs within six years. The reasons why students are not completing their postsecondary programs are diverse and range from academic and administrative to personal and life obstacles.

In the Puget Sound, educators have been digging deep into college persistence to develop knowledge that will enable our region to identify and implement policies and practices to support student completion. In this section, learn more about the work being done to better understand college persistence issues and barriers in our region and the solutions being developed to respond to those findings.