Number of High School Graduates Attending College Drops

Black Issues in Higher Education, July 22, 1999

WASHINGTON -- Nearly two-thirds of U.S. students who graduated from high school last year attended college in the fall -- but the percentage was down from the record-breaking 1997 class, the Labor Department reported last month.

Of the 2.8 million students who graduated from high school in 1998, about 1.8 million, or 65.6 percent, were attending college in October, In 1997, a record 67 percent of the young people flocked to college.

The enrollment rate of young women, 69.1 percent, continued to exceed that of young men, 62.4 percent.

"Young women are particularly getting the message," Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman says.

Herman also notes that there was a rise in the unemployment rate for the students who dropped out. In 1998, 28 percent of dropouts were unemployed, up from 20 percent in 1997. For those with a high school diploma, the 1998 unemployment rate was 14.2 percent.

"The message to America's young people is clear: What you learn has a direct and significant impact on what you earn," Herman says.