Of the 3.1 million people ages 16 to 24 who graduated from high school between January and October 2016, about 2.2 million, or 69.7 percent, were enrolled in college in October 2016. The college enrollment rate of recent high school graduates in October 2016 was little changed from the rate in October 2015.
For 2016 high school graduates, the college enrollment rate was 71.9 percent for young women and 67.4 percent for young men. The college enrollment rate of recent Asian graduates (92.4 percent) was higher than for their Hispanic (72.0 percent), White (69.7 percent), and Black (58.2 percent) counterparts.
Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October 2016, about 9 in 10 were full-time students. Recent graduates enrolled as full-time students were about half as likely to be in the labor force (34.6 percent) as were their peers enrolled part time (77.1 percent). Source: BLS
About 2 in 3 recent high school graduates enrolled in college attended 4-year colleges. Of these students, 31.5 percent participated in the labor force in October 2016, lower than the 51.8 percent for recent graduates enrolled in 2-year colleges.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
