Students’ retention, persistence, attainment, withdrawal, stopout, and transfer rates

New Web Tables from the National Center for Education Statistics provide the most recent national statistics on students’ who first began postsecondary education in the 2011–12 year. These tables provide information about the cohort as of 2017, six years after they first started their postsecondary education. Tables across the four reports contain detailed information on students’ characteristics, tuition, price of attendance, and financial aid receipt. Additionally, estimates of retention, persistence, attainment, withdrawal, stopout, and transfer rates six years after beginning postsecondary education are included. Key findings include the following: For beginning postsecondary students in 2011–12, the average total cost of attendance was approximately $20,500. 73.4% received grant aid, and, of those who received grant aid, the average amount received was approximately $7,900. As of 2017, of students who first began postsecondary education in 2011–12, 56.2% had earned a credential at any institution attended; 12.1% were still enrolled at any institution; and 31.7% were not enrolled in spring 2017. By 2017, among the students who had not attained a credential, 28.0% were still enrolled in spring 2017; 17.2% were last enrolled in 2011–12; 12.8% were last enrolled in 2012–13; 8.3% were last enrolled in 2013–14; 14.7% were last enrolled in 2014–15; and 18.9% were last enrolled in 2015-17. These Web Tables use data collected through the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17), a nationally representative study which followed first-time in college students for 6 years. This release provides 3 of the 4 reports in the series. The fourth, “A 2017 Follow-up: Six-Year Persistence and Attainment at First Institution for 2011–12 First-time Postsecondary Students (NCES 2020-237), will be released next week. To view the first two reports in the series, please visit https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020236 https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020237