Postsecondary students who take remedial reading are about half as likely as those who take no remedial courses to earn a degree or certificate.

Many students enter postsecondary education underprepared for college-level work. In fall 2000, some 76 percent of postsecondary institutions offered at least one remedial reading, writing, or mathematics course (NCES 2004–010).¹ Postsecondary transcripts of 1992 12th-graders who enrolled in postsecondary education between 1992 and 2000 show that 61 percent of students who first attended a public 2-year and 25 percent who first attended a 4-year institution completed at least one remedial course at the postsecondary level (see table 18-1). Students who first attended public 2-year institutions were more likely than their peers at 4-year institutions to enroll in a remedial reading course (18 vs. 5 percent) or one or two remedial mathematics courses (16 vs. 7 percent).

Despite assistance offered through remediation, students enrolled in remediation are less likely to earn a degree or certificate. Regardless of the combination of remedial coursework, students who completed any remedial courses were less likely to earn a degree or certificate than students who had no remediation. While 69 percent of 1992 12th-graders who had not enrolled in any postsecondary remedial courses earned a degree or certificate by 2000, 30 to 57 percent of those who had enrolled in one or more remedial courses had earned a formal award, depending on the types and amount of remediation.

The need for remedial reading appears to be the most serious barrier to degree completion: it is associated with more total remedial coursework and with lower rates of degree attainment than other remedial course-taking patterns. Students who took any postsecondary remedial reading were less likely than their peers who took one or two remedial mathematics courses only or just one remedial course (not mathematics or reading) to complete a bachelor’s degree or higher (17 vs. 27 and 39 percent, respectively). They were also less likely than their peers who took any other combination of remedial courses to have earned a formal award (30 vs. 41 to 57 percent) within 8 years of high school graduation. Enrollment in remedial reading is also associated with higher rates of total remediation. Fifty-one percent of students who took any remedial reading enrolled in four or more remedial courses, compared with 31 percent of students who took any remedial mathematics (see table 18-2).

¹Includes all Title IV degree-granting 2- and 4-year institutions that enrolled freshmen. (back to text)