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Postsecondary Education

Immediate College Enrollment Rate

Last Updated: May 2024
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In 2022, a lower percentage of male high school completers than of female high school completers immediately enrolled in college (57 vs. 66 percent). This was driven by a lower percentage of male high school completers than of female high school completers who immediately enrolled in 4-year institutions (38 vs. 51 percent).
Of the 3.0 million high school completers1 who graduated in the first 9 months of 2022, some 1.9 million (or 62 percent) were enrolled in college in October 2022.2 This annual percentage of high school completers who are enrolled in 2- or 4-year institutions within the specified time frame is known as the immediate college enrollment rate. The overall immediate college enrollment rate in 2022 was not measurably different from the rate a decade earlier in 2012, or from the rate in 2021.

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All available findings Level of institution Race/ethnicity Sex or gender
Figure 1. Immediate college enrollment rate of high school completers, by level of institution: 2012 through 2022
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A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
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NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Immediate college enrollment rate is defined as the annual percentage of high school completers who are enrolled in 2- or 4-year institutions in the October immediately following high school completion. High school completers include 16- to 24-year-olds who graduated with a high school diploma as well as those who completed a GED or other high school equivalency credential. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 2012 through 2022. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 302.10.

In every year from 2012 through 2022, a higher percentage of high school completers immediately enrolled in 4-year institutions than in 2-year institutions. In 2022, about 45 percent of high school completers immediately enrolled in 4-year institutions and 17 percent immediately enrolled in 2-year institutions. The immediate college enrollment rate for 4-year institutions in 2022 was higher than the rate in 2012 (37 percent). More specifically, this rate increased from 2012 to 2016 (46 percent) and fluctuated thereafter. In contrast, the rate for 2-year institutions decreased between 2012 (29 percent) and 2022. [Level of institution ]
Immediate College Enrollment Rates by Student Demographics
Figure 2. Immediate college enrollment rate of high school completers, by sex: 2012 through 2022
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Users can select any combination of available years and categories in any figure format (i.e., bar or table). The initial selection of years and categories may not be optimal in different views.
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A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
Line | Bar | Table
Users can select years at irregular intervals. However, as a result, the distance between the data points will not be proportional to the number of years between them.
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NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Immediate college enrollment rate is defined as the annual percentage of high school completers who are enrolled in 2- or 4-year institutions in the October immediately following high school completion. High school completers include 16- to 24-year-olds who graduated with a high school diploma as well as those who completed a GED or other high school equivalency credential. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 2012 through 2022. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 302.10.

In 2022, immediate college enrollment rates differed by sex. The overall rate for male students3 who immediately enrolled in college (57 percent) was lower than the rate for female students (66 percent). This was driven by a lower percentage of male students than of female students who immediately enrolled in 4-year institutions (38 vs. 51 percent). The percentages of male students and female students who immediately enrolled in 2-year institutions did not measurably differ. [Level of institution ] [Sex or gender]
Figure 3. Immediate college enrollment rate of high school completers, by race/ethnicity: 2012, 2017, and 2022
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Users can select any combination of available years and categories in any figure format (i.e., bar or table). The initial selection of years and categories may not be optimal in different views.
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A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
Bar | Table
Users can select years at irregular intervals. However, as a result, the distance between the data points will not be proportional to the number of years between them.
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NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Immediate college enrollment rate is defined as the annual percentage of high school completers who are enrolled in 2- or 4-year institutions in the October immediately following high school completion. High school completers include 16- to 24-year-olds who graduated with a high school diploma as well as those who completed a GED or other high school equivalency credential. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 2012, 2017, and 2022. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 302.20.

In 2022, the immediate college enrollment rate was
  • 74 percent for Asian students;
  • 64 percent for White students;
  • 61 percent for Black students; and
  • 58 percent for Hispanic students.
Immediate college enrollment rates for these racial/ethnic groups were not measurably different from each other in 2022. However, in most other years between 2012 and 2022, the immediate college enrollment rate was higher for Asian students than for White, Black, and Hispanic students. [Race/ethnicity ]
Compared with 2012, the immediate college enrollment rate in 2022 was
  • lower for Hispanic students (58 percent in 2022 vs. 70 percent in 2012); and
  • not measurably different for Asian, Black, and White students.
[Race/ethnicity ]
Figure 4. Immediate college enrollment rate of high school completers, by level of institution and race/ethnicity: 2022
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Users can select any combination of available years and categories in any figure format (i.e., bar or table). The initial selection of years and categories may not be optimal in different views.
Bar | Table
A confidence interval is a range of values that describes the uncertainty surrounding an estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, confidence intervals are calculated as the estimate +/- the margin of error, based on a 95 percent level of confidence. This means that there is 95 percent certainty that the range includes the true or actual value of the statistic.
Confidence Interval
Bar | Table
Users can select years at irregular intervals. However, as a result, the distance between the data points will not be proportional to the number of years between them.
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Embed this figure

!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.

NOTE: To estimate the margin of error, the standard error is scaled based on the desired level of confidence in the estimate. Throughout the Condition of Education, margins of error are produced based on a 95 percent level of confidence. Margin of error is calculated as 1.96*standard error. Immediate college enrollment rate is defined as the annual percentage of high school completers who are enrolled in 2- or 4-year institutions in the October immediately following high school completion. High school completers include 16- to 24-year-olds who graduated with a high school diploma as well as those who completed a GED or other high school equivalency credential. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Figures are plotted based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 2022. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 302.20.

In 2022, a higher percentage of students immediately enrolled in 4-year institutions than in 2-year institutions, both overall and for the following racial/ethnic groups:
  • Asian students (63 vs. 11 percent);
  • Black students (48 vs. 13 percent); and
  • White students (48 vs. 16 percent).
Hispanic students had higher immediate college enrollment rates in 2-year institutions (25 percent) than did Asian, White, and Black students. Asian and White students had higher immediate college enrollment rates in 4-year institutions (63 and 48 percent, respectively) than did Hispanic students (33 percent). [Race/ethnicity ] [Level of institution ]

1 In this indicator, “high school completers” refers to individuals ages 16 to 24 who graduated from high school or completed a GED or other high school equivalency credential. In 2022, about 97 percent of those who completed high school in the first 9 months of 2022 were between 16 and 24 years old.

2 For general technical notes related to data analysis, data interpretation, rounding, and other considerations, please refer to the Reader’s Guide.

3 The terms “high school completers” and “students” are used interchangeably throughout this indicator.

Supplemental Information

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College Participation Rates [Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups]
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Snapshot: College Participation Rates for Racial/Ethnic Subgroups [Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups]
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Table 302.10 (Digest 2023): Recent high school completers and their enrollment in college, by sex and level of institution: 1960 through 2022;
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Table 302.20 (Digest 2023): Percentage of recent high school completers enrolled in college, by race/ethnicity and level of institution: 1960 through 2022
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College Enrollment High school completer Postsecondary institutions (basic classification by level) Racial/ethnic group
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Suggested Citation

National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Immediate College Enrollment Rate. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved [date], from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cpa.
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