While almost one-third (32 percent) of beginning postsecondary students left without a credential within 3 academic years, students who began at 4-year institutions were less likely than those who began at 2-year institutions to do so (17-19 percent versus 35-44 percent).

The percentage of 1995-96 beginning postsecondary students who left without a credential and did not return by spring 1998 was greatest in the first year of enrollment and smallest in the third year of enrollment. Among students who began at public 4-year institutions, fewer left in the third year than in the first or second year of enrollment, but no differences were detected between departure rates in the first 2 years. No differences were detected by year in the percentages of students beginning at private not-for-profit 4-year institutions who left. The percentage of public 2-year college students who left school within the first year was larger than that from any other type of institution.