Reports for earlier years are available by mail. Data are not available by institution or by state. The new percentage of students who earn a bachelor's degree within five years is 52.8, a drop of 4.7 percent since 1983, when ACT began collecting enrollment data from the nation's postsecondary institutions. The rate for graduation within five years has decreased every year but two in this period. Public universities are experiencing both lower graduation rates and greater rate slippage than are private colleges, but the trend is downward at either type of institution.
Record lows in bold.
1984 data unavailable. More than 42 percent of college students now are enrolled part-time. Also, as the average age of students increases, so does the likelihood that family, job and community activities will compete with school and lengthen the time to graduation. Today, at least 57 percent of undergraduates are 21 or older. However, that rate remains more than 2 percent above the rate reported in 1983.