Socioeconomic Differences Among High Schools Drive Gap in College Outcomes

A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center revealed stark disparities in postsecondary outcomes for graduates based on the socioeconomic levels of their high schools.

This year’s annual High School Benchmarks report analyzed outcomes data for the high school graduating classes of 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. It compared students from high schools with different characteristics, including urban versus rural schools, schools serving relatively high-income populations versus those with more low-income students, schools that serve larger and smaller shares of minority students, and high-poverty versus low-poverty schools. (The report defines a low-income school as one where at least half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and a high-poverty school as one where three-quarters of students qualify.)

Over all, income and poverty-level differences between high schools led to wider outcomes gaps than other kinds of institutional differences, such as urban versus rural schools or high schools with lower and higher shares of minority students, according to the report.

The report found that just over half of 2024 graduates from high-poverty high schools immediately enrolled in college, compared to almost three-quarters of graduates from low-poverty high schools. Completion rates also varied widely between these school types; only about a quarter of 2018 graduates from high-poverty high schools completed a degree within six years, compared to 58.7 percent of graduates from low-poverty high schools, the report found. (Low-poverty high schools were the only category of school where over half of graduates completed degrees in a six-year period.)

Students from low-poverty or high-income schools were also more likely to complete STEM degrees in six years, 22.4 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively, compared to 8.1 percent for high-poverty and 9.1 percent for low-income high schools, the report found.

Disparities also show up in persistence rates. For example, persistence rates from the first year of college to the second year held steady across high schools of all characteristics, with changes no larger than half a percentage point between the high school classes of 2021 and 2022—except for high-poverty high schools. Those high schools, where graduates already persisted at the lowest rates, saw persistence rates drop 1.1 percentage points.

The report found that, over all, the share of high school graduates who enrolled in college remained consistent over time. For the high school graduating classes of 2023 and 2024, the shares of students who immediately enrolled in college over all remained stable, with changes of no more than 0.3 percentage points from year to year, across most types of high schools, including low-income schools. The share of students who enrolled within a year of high school graduation also increased by at least one percentage point for students from low-income, high-poverty and high-minority high schools between 2022 and 2023.

Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, said in a statement that “even with stable enrollment outcomes, the socioeconomic gaps continue to persist.”

“Large differences in college access and degree attainment mean many students don’t see the benefits of higher education opportunities,” Shapiro said, “particularly those from low-income backgrounds.”