Skip Navigation
Remedial Education at Higher Education Institutions in Fall 1995
NCES 97584
October 1996

Participation in College-Level Remedial Education

Institutions Offering Remedial Courses

This section provides information about remedial course offerings and enrollments. Institutions were asked whether they offered any remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses, both overall and by subject. Institutions that offered remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses were asked about the number of remedial courses offered and freshman enrollment in these courses.

About three-quarters (78 percent) of higher education institutions that enrolled freshmen offered at least one remedial reading, writing, or mathematics course in fall 1995 (Table 1). The percentage of institutions offering remedial courses varied greatly by institutional type. All public 2-year institutions and 81 percent of public 4-year institutions offered remedial courses; 63 percent of private 2-year and private 4-year institutions offered such courses.4 The percentage of institutions offering remedial courses also varied greatly by the minority enrollment of the institution, with 94 percent of institutions with high minority enrollment compared with 76 percent of institutions with low minority enrollment offering at least one remedial reading, writing, or mathematics course.

Remedial reading courses were offered by 57 percent of higher education institutions enrolling freshmen (Table 1). Differences by institutional type and by minority enrollment were particularly striking for remedial reading. While almost all public 2-year institutions offered remedial reading courses, about half of public 4-year institutions and about a third of private 2-year and private 4-year institutions offered such courses. A much greater percentage of institutions with high minority enrollment than of institutions with low minority enrollment offered courses in remedial reading: 87 percent compared with 53 percent.

Remedial writing courses were offered by 71 percent and remedial mathematics courses by 72 percent of higher education institutions that enrolled freshmen (Table 1). Both subject areas showed a similar pattern of differences by institutional type: almost all public 2-year institutions offered remedial writing and mathematics courses, about three-quarters of public 4-year institutions offered remedial courses in these subjects, about 6 out of 10 private 2-year institutions offered such courses, and about half of private 4-year institutions offered remedial courses in writing and mathematics. A greater percentage of institutions with high minority than low minority enrollment offered remedial writing and mathematics courses.

The greater extent to which remedial courses were offered by public 2-year and high minority enrollment institutions may be related to the characteristics of the institutions and the types of students they serve. For example, about half of public 2-year institutions and about a third of institutions with high minority enrollment have open admissions policies, compared with less than 10 percent of 2-year private and 4- year institutions and 15 percent of institutions with low minority enrollment.5

Number of Remedial Courses Offered

Most institutions that offered remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses offered one or two different courses in a subject area in fall 1995. At institutions that offered remedial reading, 41 percent offered one course and 34 percent offered two courses; at institutions that offered remedial writing, 53 percent offered one course and 26 percent offered two courses; and at institutions that offered remedial mathematics, 40 percent offered one course and 24 percent offered two courses (Figure 1). This is also exemplified by the average (mean) number of courses offered: 2.1 for reading, 2.0 for writing, and 2.5 for mathematics (Table 2). More remedial courses were offered in mathematics than in other subject areas for all institutions grouped together, and for public 2-year, public 4-year, and low minority enrollment institutions. Within each subject area, differences by institutional type in the average number of courses offered in the various subject areas were particularly striking, with public 2-year institutions offering a much higher average number of courses than other types of institutions.

Freshman Enrollment in Remedial Courses

Institutions that offered remedial reading, writing, and mathematics courses were asked about the percentage of entering freshmen that enrolled in any remedial course in one or more of these subject areas, and that enrolled in remedial courses in each subject area. This information about the percentage of entering freshmen enrolled in remedial courses was then combined with information about the total number of first-time freshmen (both full- and part-time) enrolled at all institutions with freshmen to obtain national estimates of the number of entering first-time freshmen enrolled in remedial courses. The total number of first-time freshmen was obtained from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 1994 Fall Enrollment file (the most recent year for which data were available).6 The percentage of first-time freshmen enrolled in remedial courses was then calculated by dividing the sum of first-time freshmen taking remedial courses by the sum of all first-time freshmen enrolled at all institutions with freshmen. Thus, both the numerator and denominator for each percentage calculated were based on the IPEDS numbers.

Twenty-nine percent of first-time freshmen enrolled in at least one remedial reading, writing, or mathematics course in fall 1995 (Table 3). Freshman remedial enrollments differed by institutional type and minority enrollment of the institution. At public 2-year institutions, 41 percent of first-time freshmen enrolled in one or more remedial courses, at private 2-year and public 4-year institutions about a quarter of first-time freshmen were enrolled in a remedial course, and at private 4-year institutions, 13 percent of first-time freshmen were enrolled in at least one remedial course. At institutions with high minority enrollment, 43 percent of first-time freshmen were enrolled in remedial reading, writing, or mathematics, compared with 26 percent at institutions with low minority enrollment.

First-time freshmen took more remedial courses in mathematics (24 percent) than in writing (17 percent) and reading (13 percent). A similar general pattern of higher remedial enrollments at public 2-year and high minority enrollment institutions emerged for the individual subject areas as for the overall remedial enrollment.

Institutional Reporting of Change in Remedial Enrollments

Institutions were asked whether the number of students enrolled in remedial courses at their institution had increased, stayed about the same, or decreased in the last 5 years. About half (47 percent) of the institutions indicated that remedial enrollments stayed about the same, 39 percent said enrollments had increased, and 14 percent said they had decreased (Table 4). A greater percentage of public 2-year than of other types of institutions indicated that remedial enrollments had increased; public and private 4-year institutions reported decreases in remedial enrollments more often than did public 2-year institutions.

Average Length of Time in Remedial Courses

Institutions were asked to indicate about how long, on average, a student takes remedial courses: less than 1 year, 1 year, or more than 1 year. Two-thirds of the institutions indicated that the average time a student takes remedial courses was less than 1 year, 28 percent indicated that the average time was 1 year, and 5 percent indicated that the average time was more than 1 year (Table 5). Students were more likely to take remedial courses for a longer time at certain types of institutions than at others. While 46 percent of public 2-year institutions reported that students take remedial courses for less than 1 year, 69 percent of public 4-year, 84 percent of private 4-year, and 95 percent of private 2-year institutions reported the average time in remedial courses as less than 1 year. Institutions with low minority enrollment reported the average time as less than 1 year more often than did institutions with high minority enrollment.

Students Passing Remedial Courses

In general, about three-quarters of the students enrolled in remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses pass or successfully complete those courses (Table 6). The percentage of students passing remedial reading and writing courses was lower in public 2-year than in other types of institutions, and for remedial mathematics it was lower in public 2-year and 4-year than in private 2-year and 4-year institutions. The percentage of students passing remedial courses in all three subjects was lower at institutions with high minority enrollment than at institutions with low minority enrollment.

Freshman Retention

Full-time entering freshmen who enrolled in remedial courses continued at their institution to the start of their second year at a somewhat lower rate than all full-time entering freshmen at institutions offering remedial courses. High retention (i.e., 75-100 percent continuing) of all freshmen was reported by 32 percent of institutions offering remedial courses; high retention of freshmen enrolled in remedial courses was reported by 23 percent of the institutions (Figure 2). Conversely, low retention (i.e., 1-49 percent continuing) of all freshmen was reported by 15 percent of institutions offering remedial courses; low retention of freshmen enrolled in remedial courses was reported by 24 percent of the institutions.

Reasons Institutions Do Not Offer Remedial Courses

The 22 percent of institutions that did not offer remedial reading, writing, or mathematics courses in fall 1995 (see Table 1) were asked to indicate why remedial courses were not offered. The most frequent reason, indicated by 66 percent of institutions, was that remedial courses were not needed by students at the institution (Figure 3). About a quarter of institutions indicated that students at the institution who need remediation take remedial courses offered by another institution (22 percent), and/or that institutional policy does not allow the institution to offer remedial courses (27 percent). Eighteen percent of the institutions that did not offer remedial courses in fall 1995 had offered remedial courses at some time during the previous 5 years (not shown in tables).


4 In the analyses in this report, the comparisons of private 2-year institutions with other types of institutions are often not significant because of the large standard errors for private 2-year institutions, which are related to the fairly small sample size for this type of institution.

5 5 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, 1994-95 Institutional Characteristics file, unpublished tabulations, July 1996.

6 The number of first-time freshmen was obtained by summing the numbers from line 01 (full-time first-time freshmen) and line 15 (part-time first-time freshmen) of the IPEDS 1994 Fall Enrollment file. There were an estimated 2.1 million first-time freshmen in fall 1994.

Top