Previous BPS Study

Some recent findings from BPS:04/06 are stated below:

Attainment and persistence at any institution through 2006

• 83% of beginning students who first enrolled full time in a postsecondary institution in 2003–04 with plans for a bachelor’s degree were still enrolled at a postsecondary institution three years later.
• 62% of beginning students who first enrolled at a public 2-year institution in 2003–04 and then transferred to another institution had not yet attained a degree and were still enrolled at some postsecondary institution three years later.
• 50% of beginning independent students who first enrolled at a 4-year institution in 2003–04 had not attained a degree and were no longer enrolled three years later.

Attainment and retention at the first institution attended

• 70% of beginning students who enrolled full time in a postsecondary institution in 2003–04 with plans for a bachelor’s degree were still enrolled at their first postsecondary institution without a degree three years later; 4% had attained a degree or certificate at their first institution; 20% had transferred elsewhere without a degree; and 7% had left the first institution attended without a degree or certificate and did not enroll anywhere else within three years.
• Among students first enrolled at a public 2-year institution in 2003–04 with associate’s degree plans, 23% attained an associate’s degree from that institution, 31% were still enrolled there without a degree, 24% had transferred elsewhere without a degree, and 21% had not attained a degree and were not enrolled there or anywhere else three years later.