Previous research found an increasing number of college students dropped out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the ripple effect has caught up with graduation rates.
“The pandemic’s impact on higher education has gone beyond the declining numbers of current students and is now showing up as a drop in the annual number of new graduates as well,” Doug Shapiro, executive director of the clearinghouse’s Research Center, said in a statement. “This is a setback to those seeking higher postsecondary attainment rates, leaving the nation and many states falling further behind on goals for a highly educated workforce.”
