There are at least 8,000 youth aged 16-24 residing in the District of Columbia who are not enrolled in school or other educational programs and who do not have a high school diploma or credential.
• On average, individuals who left school without a high school diploma earn $10,386 less than the typical high school graduate, and $36,424 less than someone with a bachelor’s degree.
• Among dropouts between the ages of 16 and 24, incarceration rates were 63 times higher than among college graduates, according to a study by researchers at Northeastern University.
• The same study found that as a result – when compared to the typical high school graduate – a dropout will end up costing taxpayers an average of $292,000 over a lifetime due to the price tag associated with incarceration and other factors such as how much less they pay in taxes.
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in February of 2017, the national unemployment rate among those without a high school diploma measured 7.9 percent, almost 60 percent higher than those who attained a high school diploma or its equivalent but did not go on to college and roughly three times higher than the unemployment rate among college graduates.
(Source: DC Office of the State Superintendant of Education (OSSE), ReEngagement Center handout, 11/2020)