USA College Dropout Rate Examined

Sulaiman Abdur-RahmanUpdated January 18, 2023Editor’s note: Lantern by SoFi seeks to provide content that is objective, independent and accurate. Writers are separate from our business operation and do not receive direct compensation from advertisers or partners. Read more about our Editorial Guidelines and How We Make Money.The U.S. college dropout rate is 24.1% for first-time undergraduates. Colleges retained only 75.9% of their full-time freshmen students from 2019 to 2020, according to recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics.College dropout rates tend to be higher at public schools than nonprofit private schools. Public institutions retained 74.8% of first-time undergrads compared with 80.2% retention at private nonprofit institutions, data show.Although the average college dropout rate is 24.1% for first-time undergraduates, the Harvard dropout rate is 4%. This is according to Harvard’s own data, which show the institution had a 96% retention rate of full-tim...