The number of graduates from the state’s community colleges has seen a marked increase, according to data released Wednesday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Overall, the number of Colorado college students earning credentials within six years is holding steady.
The report tracks cohorts of students over six years. Colorado’s college completion rate for the cohort of students who started college in the fall of 2018 stayed about the same at 59.1 percent graduating in 2024, a slight bump from the 2017 cohort where 58.9 percent completed.
Nationally, completion rates inched up to 61.1 percent for students who entered college in 2018, a .5 percentage-point increase compared to the previous cohort. This is after several years of stalled progress in national college completion rates. It’s the highest rate since 2007 when the organization began tracking data. The eight-year completion rate for students starting in fall 2016 reached 64.7 percent, also the highest of the cohorts tracked.
Out of all states, Colorado ranked 33rd in college completion.
Four-years versus two-years
In Colorado, the completion rate at public four-year universities is 66.6 percent, down slightly from the 2017 cohort’s rate of 66.9 percent.
The big jump was in graduation rates from two-year community college degrees. Colorado’s six-year graduation rate was 46.1 percent, up over the 2017 cohort’s rate of 43 percent.
“This growth is the result of carefully targeted efforts to look beyond access and affordability, and to focus on student success,” said Joe Garcia, chancellor of the Colorado Community College System. “While we are pleased with our progress, we remain committed to doing more to close equity gaps, enhance student support systems, and ensure that all learners—regardless of their background—can succeed and thrive. Our students and our state deserve nothing less.”
The data show full-time students were significantly more likely to earn a degree compared to students who started attending part-time. They had a much higher stop-out rate (leaving college temporarily) and much lower completion rates.
High-income versus low-income neighborhoods
Nationally, for the 2018 cohort, just 48 percent of students from the lowest-income neighborhoods graduated within six years compared to 76 percent of students from the highest-income neighborhoods.
“This is a highly stable predictor of completion rates,” said Doug Shapiro, the research center’s executive director. “At every income level, and in every year since 2010, students from more affluent neighborhoods had sharply higher completion rates than those from lower-income backgrounds.”
The good news is that the gap appears to be shrinking slightly. The gap between students from highest- and lowest-income neighborhoods was a 30-point difference in 2010. Now it’s 27.6.
“Some progress, slow progress,” said Shapiro. He said the bottom 40 percent of students based on income showed the largest improvements in college completion among all income levels.
More students are taking college classes while still in high school, called dual enrollment. The analysis found that Colorado students who entered college in 2018 with prior dual enrollment had much higher completion rates within six years than those who didn’t – 67.2 percent compared to just 57 percent.
How does Colorado compare to other states?
Southern states made stronger gains in college completion compared to last year. Northeastern states had notable drops. Only ten states are seeing improvements of one percentage point or more. Of the 50 states, Alaska continues to have the lowest completion rate (35.1 percent), while Rhode Island has the highest (72.2 percent).
Among states, Utah saw the biggest jump in college completion – 2.9 percent, and New Hampshire saw the biggest drop at 2.2 percent.
In Colorado, fall student enrollment is up 3.5 percent this year over last year.
