Report tracks post-bachelor’s degree progress


A new study describes the enrollment and employment experiences of college graduates.

A new report reveals that 50 percent of students who began their careers in a four-year institution obtained their bachelor’s degrees in four years or less, compared to 25 percent of students who obtained a bachelor’s degree in four year or less when initially enrolling in a community college at the beginning of their post-secondary education.

The July 20 study from the National Center on Education Statistics describes the enrollment and employment experiences of a national sample of college graduates who completed a bachelor’s degree in the 2007-2008 academic year. Researchers concentrated on 2008-2009 period–the year after students graduated.

Eighteen percent of students who delayed their entry into post-secondary education, defined in the study as waiting 12 months or more after high school graduation before initial post-secondary enrollment, completed a bachelor’s degree in four years, compared to 47.6 percent of those who did not delay their entry.

The Baccalaureate and Beyond series of data collections allows researchers to address questions regarding bachelor’s degree recipients’ undergraduate experiences, including participation in various financial aid programs, undergraduate debt, and repayment of that debt; entrance into and progress through post-baccalaureate education, including time to the bachelor’s degree; and employment, particularly as elementary/secondary teachers.

The report sampled 137,800 undergraduate students, and of those students, 17,160 qualified for the study. Those students enrolled in U.S. institutions that were eligible to participate in the Title IV federal student aid programs, completed requirements for a bachelor’s degree between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008, and were awarded their baccalaureate degree by the institution from which they were sampled no later than June 30, 2009.

Twenty-three percent of 2007-2008 first-time bachelor’s degree recipients majored in a business-related field, 16 percent majored in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM), 16 percent majored in a social science, and 12 percent majored in the humanities.

Roughly 20 percent had parents whose highest level of education was a high school diploma or less. And 44 percent completed a bachelor’s degree within 48 months of their initial enrollment, 23 percent completed their degree within 49-60 months, and 9 percent completed a degree within 61-72 months.

Sixty-two percent of graduates took out federal loans to finance their education, borrowing an average of $18,200 each. Thirty-six percent borrowed from state or private sources and took out an average of $13,900 in loans.

Sixty-seven percent of bachelor’s degree students who initially enrolled in public two-year institutions borrowed an average of $24,500 to finance their education, while 85 percent of students in private nonprofit and for-profit two-year institutions borrowed an average of $31,600.

Sixty-two percent of students who initially enrolled in a public four-year institution borrowed an average of $21,900; 69.4 percent of students at private nonprofit institutions borrowed an average of $27,900 in loans; and 87.7 percent of students in for-profit schools took out an average of $36,000 in loans.

Thirty percent of the first-time bachelor’s degree recipients had enrolled in another education program, or had been accepted and planned to enroll in the 2009-2010 academic year, which followed the interview date.

Eighty-four percent of bachelor’s degree recipients were working a year after completing their degrees, 9 percent were unemployed but looking for work, and 7 percent were not in the labor force. Of those who were employed full-time, the median earned income was $36,000. One-quarter earned less than $27,457 and one-quarter earned more than $49,200.

Other statistics include:

  • Sixty-seven percent of students were age 23 or younger when they completed their bachelor’s degree, 19.4 percent were ages 24-29, and 13.3 percent were 30 or older.
  • Thirty-seven percent received a Pell grant, and 63 percent did not.
  • Of all the students, 29.4 percent began their journey toward a bachelor’s degree at a community college.

The report’s authors caution that the results are only a first look at the data, and that relationships between different variables have not yet been examined. A second follow-up report, expected to be released in 2012, will examine bachelor’s degree recipients’ labor market experiences and post-baccalaureate education through the fourth year after their graduation.

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