|
March 2006
|
A periodic newsletter on a single topic of interest published by the Office of Higher Education Sixty-Four Percent of Minnesota High School Graduates Choose College This issue of Insight explores the college attendance patterns of Minnesota's 2004 high school graduates. With college decisions weighing heavy on the minds of some high school seniors this spring, it is interesting to note the decisions of their predecessors. Though nearly half of high school graduates choose colleges in their home state, the next largest group comprises those who do not pursue college following high school. Another 16.4 percent of 2004 graduates selected colleges out of state. Sixty-four percent of Minnesota's 2004 high school graduates attended college the following fall. That rate is the same as the national participation rate for 2003, which is the last year data are available.1 Of the 65,574 Minnesota high school graduates in 2004:
Of the students who enrolled in Minnesota institutions, 40 percent went to a community or technical college. Nineteen percent enrolled at the University of Minnesota, 19 percent enrolled at state universities, 19 percent enrolled in Minnesota's non-profit four-year institutions and three percent went to private for-profit career schools. Students Choose Colleges Coast to Coast Of the 3,636 students who attended institutions in states not adjacent to Minnesota's border, attendance was scattered across the country. [view table] Institutions located in the Rocky Mountain region (Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming) were also popular destinations for recent Minnesota high school graduates, followed by other institutions in the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio), and the Southwest region (Arizona) of the United States. Participation Grows Slowly Minnesota compares well with other states in what are known as education transitions. Depending on the study, Minnesota ranks second2 or third3 nationally, behind New Jersey and North Dakota, in the chance ninth graders have of enrolling in college by age 19. College participation rates are defined as the number of high school graduates who enroll in a post-secondary education institution the fall after high school graduation. Minnesota's participation rate provides a glimpse of student behavior in the months following high school graduation. The rate provides an indicator of whether post-secondary education is accessible to a broad socio-economic range of high school graduates, as well as whether Minnesota and the nation are preparing people with skills to meet future workforce demands. (A detailed description of how rates are calculated can be found at the end of this report.) Achievement Gap Persists While participation rates for various racial and ethnic populations can vary by several percentage points from year to year, Asian high school graduates typically enroll in Minnesota post-secondary institutions at rates higher than other populations. White high school graduates have the next highest participation rate, followed by Black, Hispanic, and American Indian high school graduates. Participation Rates of Minnesota High School Graduates Enrolled in Minnesota Post-Secondary Institutions
(Participation estimates for enrollment out-of-state are not available by race and ethnicity.) Because some fluctuation in the rates from year to year are expected, a look at the recent five-year averages is recommended for the most accurate picture of participation by racial or ethnic group. Still, the decline in participation for Black, American Indian and Hispanic students in 2004 is a concern and worthy of attention. Five-year average college participation rates of Minnesota high school graduates who enrolled in a Minnesota post-secondary institution, fall 2000 to 2004
Changing Demographics The increasing numbers should not mask the fact that the percentages of college-bound students of color in these groups is not growing as consistently or rapidly as for white students. Minnesota's population is becoming more diverse, whether through foreign immigration, natural population growth, or secondary migration from other states. In 2004, 13 percent of Minnesota high school graduates were students of color. Projections indicate that by 2015, students of color will comprise about 20 percent of Minnesota high school graduates. The largest increases are projected to be in the number of Hispanic and Black graduates—two student populations with historically low college participation and low high school graduation rates. Participation Rates of Minnesota High School Graduates
NES: New entering students who graduated from a Minnesota high school the previous spring. Data are adjusted for missing values. Estimated out-of-state enrollments are from the National Center for Education Statistics IPEDS enrollment residency and migration data. About Participation Rates The numbers of high school graduates are obtained from the Minnesota Department of Education. Students who graduate from high school and delay college entry past the fall following high school graduation are not included in the participation rate. Data on enrolled students are revised to estimate missing information. Participation rates contain adjustments for:
Data on the number of students who attend a post-secondary institution out-of-state are obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS enrollment survey, collected biannually. Institutions report the state of residence of freshmen who graduated from high school during the past 12 months. The participation rate provides one measure along a complex educational pathway. Longitudinal studies and surveys, such as the 2006 Toolbox Revisited by the U.S. Department of Education, provide a more comprehensive picture of the student experience over time, however no such longitudinal study has been conducted in recent years for Minnesota. For more information on the process and methodology or participation rates in general, contact Alexandra Djurovich.
About the Office of Higher Education
The Office of Higher Education is a state agency providing students with financial aid programs and information to help them gain access to post-secondary education. The agency serves as the state's clearinghouse for data, research and analysis on post-secondary enrollment, financial aid, finance and trends. The Minnesota State Grant program, which is administered by the agency, is a need-based tuition assistance program for Minnesota students. The agency also oversees tuition reciprocity programs, a student loan program, Minnesota's 529 college savings program, licensing and an early awareness outreach initiative for youth. Through collaboration with systems and institutions, the agency assists in the development of the state's education technology infrastructure and shared library resources. |
|
» TABLE OF CONTENTS « Students Choose Colleges Coast to Coast
College-going Activity by High School
Minnesota Department of Education high school graduation data State comparisons using six other measures of participation National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education educational pipeline report [.pdf] National Center for Education Statistics data on immediate transition to college The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion From High School Through College Inside Higher Education: Students Heading South
Be notified by e-mail each time the Office of Higher Education posts a news release to its web site. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: Include "subscribe news your_e-mail_address" in the body of the message. If you have trouble subscribing, please send an e-mail message to:
Author
Editor
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
