Disparities in Postsecondary Readiness

Last Updated: August 2023 | Suggested Citation

Immediate Enrollment in College

Of the 2.7 million high school completers³⁰ who graduated in the first 9 months of 2021, some 1.7 million (or 62 percent) were enrolled in college in October 2021. This annual percentage of high school completers who are enrolled in 2- or 4-year institutions in the October immediately following high school completion is known as the immediate college enrollment rate. The overall immediate college enrollment rate in 2021 was lower than the rate in 2010 (68 percent). Specifically, although immediate college enrollment rates showed no consistent trend over the first two-thirds of this period (2010 to 2018), they declined over the latter third (from 2018 to 2021). There was no measurable difference in the overall immediate college enrollment rate in 2021 compared to 2020. This indicator examines differences in the immediate college enrollment rate from 2010 through 2021 among 16- to 24-year-olds by sex and race/ethnicity.

Immediate college enrollment rates differ by sex.

In 2021, the overall rate for male students³¹ who immediately enrolled in college (55 percent) was lower than the rate for female students (70 percent). This was driven by a lower percentage of male students than of female students who immediately enrolled in 4-year institutions (36 vs. 51 percent). The percentages of male students and female students who immediately enrolled in 2-year institutions did not measurably differ.
While the immediate college enrollment rate for male students was lower in 2021 than in 2010 (55 vs. 63 percent), the rates for female students in these two years were not measurably different from each other.

Figure 6. Immediate college enrollment rate of high school completers, by sex: 2010 through 2021

Figure 2. Immediate college enrollment rate of high school completers, by sex: 2010 through 2021

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 2010 through 2021. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 302.10.

Immediate college enrollment rates also differ by race/ethnicity.

In 2021, the immediate college enrollment rate for Asian students (85 percent) was higher than the rates for White (62 percent), Black (59 percent), and Hispanic (59 percent) students.
For Asian, Black, and Hispanic students, the immediate college enrollment rates were not measurably different between 2021 and 2010. For White students, the immediate college enrollment rate in 2021 (62 percent) was lower than in 2010 (70 percent).

In 2021, higher percentages of students immediately enrolled in 4-year institutions than immediately enrolled in 2-year institutions for

Asian students (76 vs. 9 percent);
White students (43 vs. 19 percent);
Black students (42 vs. 17 percent); and
Hispanic students (40 vs. 19 percent).

Asian students had higher immediate enrollment rates in 4-year institutions than White, Black, and Hispanic students.

Figure 7. Immediate college enrollment rate of high school completers, by level of institution and race/ethnicity: 2021

Figure 4. Immediate college enrollment rate of high school completers, by level of institution and race/ethnicity: 2021

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

NOTE: 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. Other racial/ethnic groups are not shown separately. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 2010 through 2021. See Digest of Education Statistics 2022, table 302.20.

Young Adults Neither Enrolled in School nor Working

Education and work are core activities in the transition from childhood to adulthood. Young adults who are detached from these activities, particularly if they are detached for several years, may have difficulty building a work history that contributes to future employability and higher wages.³² Young adults who are neither enrolled in school nor working³³ may be detached from these activities for a variety of reasons. For example, they may be seeking educational opportunities or work but are unable to find them, or they may have left school or the workforce temporarily or permanently for personal, family, or financial reasons. Using data collected in the March supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS), this indicator examines the rate at which 18- to 24-year-olds are neither enrolled in school nor working.³⁴ Not being enrolled in school nor working is an imperfect measure of being unready for postsecondary education. In addition to potentially indicating a lack of readiness for postsecondary education, it could also indicate things such as the inability to pay for college or a lack of access to or interest in postsecondary education. Although it is an imperfect measure, not being enrolled in school nor working still provides some insight into disparities in postsecondary readiness. This indicator examines differences in being neither enrolled in school nor working by age group and race/ethnicity.

In 2021, some 16 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were neither enrolled in school nor working. This percentage was higher for 20- to 24-year-olds (18 percent) than for 18- and 19-year-olds (13 percent).
The percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who were neither enrolled in school nor working decreased from 19 percent in 2010, the year immediately after the 2007‐09 recession,³⁵ to 16 percent in 2021. Within this time period, this percentage reached a low of 13 percent in 2019, the year before the coronavirus pandemic started to disrupt American society. Since 2019, the percentage who were neither enrolled in school nor working increased, reaching 16 percent in 2021.

Figure 8. Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who were neither enrolled in school nor working, by age group: 2010 through 2021

NOTE: Data are based on sample surveys of the noninstitutionalized population, which excludes persons living in institutions (e.g., prisons or nursing facilities); data include military personnel who live in households with civilians but exclude those who live in military barracks. Caution should be used when comparing 2020 and 2021 estimates to those of prior years due to the impact that the coronavirus pandemic had on interviewing and response rates. For additional information about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Current Population Survey data collection, please see https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar21.pdf. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2010 through 2021. See: Digest of Education Statistics 2021, table 501.30.

In 2021, the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who were neither enrolled in school nor working varied by race/ethnicity.

The percentage who were neither enrolled in school nor working was higher for those who were American Indian/Alaska Native (31 percent), Black (23 percent), and Hispanic (18 percent) than for those who were White (15 percent), of Two or more races (12 percent), and Asian (10 percent). In addition, this percentage was higher for those who were Pacific Islander (22 percent) and White than for those who were Asian.

Figure 9. Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who were neither enrolled in school nor working, by race/ethnicity: 2021

NOTE: Data are based on sample surveys of the noninstitutionalized population, which excludes persons living in institutions (e.g., prisons or nursing facilities); data include military personnel who live in households with civilians but exclude those who live in military barracks. The coronavirus pandemic impacted the interviewing and response rates of the Current Population Survey. For additional information, please see https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar21.pdf. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2021. See: Digest of Education Statistics 2021, table 501.30.

Findings in this indicator come from Immediate College Enrollment Rate and Young Adults Neither Enrolled in School nor Working in the Condition of Education. For more information see table 501.30 from Digest of Education Statistics 2021 and tables 302.10 and 302.20 from Digest of Education Statistics 2022.

³⁰ 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 2021, about 94 percent of those who completed high school in the first 9 months of 2021 were between 16 and 24 years old.

³¹ The terms “high school completers” and “students” are used interchangeably throughout the indicator.

³² Fernandes-Alcantara, A.L. (2015). Disconnected Youth: A Look at 16 to 24 Year Olds Who Are Not Working or In School (CRS Report No. R40535). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40535.pdf.

³³ Also called “not in education, employment, or training (NEET)” in the social and educational literature. See Holte, B.H. (2018). Counting and Meeting NEET Young People: Methodology, Perspective and Meaning in Research on Marginalized Youth. Young, 26(1): 1–16. Retrieved February 17, 2022, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1103308816677618.

³⁴ Note that the section on immediate college enrollment presents data on 16- to 24-year-olds between 2010 and 2021. The data in this section are for 18- to 24-year-olds between 2010 and 2021.

³⁵ National Bureau of Economic Research. (2020). U.S. Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.nber.org/research/data/us-business-cycle-expansions-and-contractions.

Suggested Citation

National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Postsecondary Readiness. Equity in Education Dashboard. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved [date], from [URL].