New Report Finds that, for the 2nd Year in a Row, Fewer Americans Are Stopping Out, More Returning to College
HERNDON, VA / ACCESS Newswire / June 4, 2025 / The number of students leaving college without earning a credential - or "stopping out" - has declined for the second year in a row, reports the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
The Some College, No Credential (SCNC) report, released today, also found that more students who had previously stopped out are re-enrolling. During the 2023-24 academic year, 42 states and the District of Columbia saw increases in re-enrollment compared to the previous year, ranging from a 0.7 percent increase in Washington, DC, to a 35.2 percent increase in Massachusetts.
"It is inspiring to see that over one million adults returned to campuses last year-the most we've ever recorded," said Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. "They're reviving college aspirations that had been put on hold years before. And states and institutions are working to make it even easier for more students to do so in the future."
Nearly all higher education institution sectors saw fewer stopouts between January 2022 and July 2023 compared to the same period a year earlier-except for private for-profit four-year institutions and primarily online institutions, which saw increases of 17.7% and 1.7%, respectively.
Total population of "some college, no credential" Americans is still growing: Despite the promising trends in the re-enrollments, there are still nearly 43.1 million American adults stopped out of college without a credential, according to the new report. Of these, 37.6 million are under age 65 and of typical working age.
Moreover, the total population of working age adults with some college and no credential grew 2.2 percent in the year ending July 2023, as the 2.1 million students who were newly stopped out far outpaced those "some college, no credential" students re-enrolling in the 2022-23 academic year and the number of those aging out of the working-age population.
Some students benefit from policies that award credentials for past credits: Each year, about 1 in 4 of those in the "some college, no credential" population who earn a first credential do so without re-enrolling. While the data does not identify causes, these credential earners may be the beneficiaries of policies that remove administrative barriers to completion or award credentials based on the number of credits already earned in the past, such as Colorado's new Colorado Re-Engaged (CORE) initiative.
The CORE initiative allows public four-year institutions to award associate degrees to those who stopped out in the last decade with 70 credit hours. This year's report finds that, despite having the twentieth-largest "some college, no credential" population, Colorado had the seventh-highest number of first credential earners this year (2,100, +1,200 from 2022-23), boosted by associate degrees earned by "some college, no credential" individuals who did not need to re-enroll.
The Some College, No Credential report was created with the support of Lumina Foundation.
About the National Student Clearinghouse® Research Center™
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse. The Research Center collaborates with higher education institutions, states, school districts, high schools, and educational organizations as part of a national effort to better inform education leaders and policymakers. Through accurate longitudinal data outcomes reporting, the Research Center enables better educational policy decisions leading to improved student outcomes. To learn more, visit nscresearchcenter.org.
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SOURCE: National Student Clearinghouse
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