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College Going Rates by State - 2008 Early Release
2006: College Going Rates by State - an Analysis
Estimated US College Going Rates by State - 2005-06
Is it the economic down turn or is it in response to Obama's call for more higher education enrollment? It doesn't seem to matter. The overall US college going rate for 2007-08 high school graduates do climb up for about 1.5%. The biggest gain occurred in the public 2-year colleges.
The overall US averages showed that the college going rate for degree-granting institutions increased from 61.7% in 2006 to 63.3% in 2008, an increase of 1.6%. At the mean time, the college going rate for non-degree-granting institutions decreased from 1.5% in 2006 to 1.4% in 2008 resulting in a net increase of 1.5% in the total college going rate.
overall rates by state
| State | % Going Degree-Granting | % Going Non-Degree-Granting | % Going Colleges |
| Alabama | 66.7% | 0.2% | 66.9% |
| Alaska | 45.8% | 1.7% | 47.4% |
| Arizona | 51.4% | 1.5% | 52.9% |
| Arkansas | 62.5% | 1.2% | 63.8% |
| California | 65.4% | 1.3% | 66.7% |
| Colorado | 62.7% | 0.8% | 63.5% |
| Connecticut | 68.1% | 2.9% | 70.9% |
| Delaware | 66.2% | 1.0% | 67.2% |
| District of Columbia | 53.4% | 4.5% | 57.9% |
| Florida | 58.8% | 1.9% | 60.7% |
| Georgia | 70.0% | 1.6% | 71.6% |
| Hawaii | 62.4% | 0.2% | 62.6% |
| Idaho | 50.2% | 1.3% | 51.5% |
| Illinois | 57.4% | 1.4% | 58.8% |
| Indiana | 65.7% | 0.7% | 66.4% |
| Iowa | 64.3% | 1.0% | 65.3% |
| Kansas | 65.4% | 1.1% | 66.6% |
| Kentucky | 60.9% | 1.0% | 61.9% |
| Louisiana | 65.3% | 1.2% | 66.5% |
| Maine | 61.3% | 1.1% | 62.5% |
| Maryland | 63.0% | 1.4% | 64.4% |
| Massachusetts | 74.7% | 1.7% | 76.4% |
| Michigan | 59.9% | 1.2% | 61.1% |
| Minnesota | 69.2% | 1.1% | 70.3% |
| Mississippi | 77.4% | 0.7% | 78.1% |
| Missouri | 60.0% | 1.1% | 61.1% |
| Montana | 57.5% | 0.7% | 58.2% |
| Nebraska | 65.5% | 0.9% | 66.4% |
| Nevada | 55.6% | 1.8% | 57.4% |
| New Hampshire | 63.9% | 1.4% | 65.3% |
| New Jersey | 71.2% | 2.4% | 73.6% |
| New Mexico | 67.7% | 0.6% | 68.3% |
| New York | 74.2% | 1.9% | 76.1% |
| North Carolina | 66.0% | 0.5% | 66.5% |
| North Dakota | 63.8% | 1.6% | 65.4% |
| Ohio | 62.8% | 1.2% | 64.0% |
| Oklahoma | 56.0% | 4.2% | 60.3% |
| Oregon | 46.5% | 0.9% | 47.5% |
| Pennsylvania | 64.1% | 1.5% | 65.6% |
| Rhode Island | 67.4% | 3.2% | 70.6% |
| South Carolina | 69.5% | 0.7% | 70.2% |
| South Dakota | 72.1% | 0.6% | 72.7% |
| Tennessee | 61.7% | 2.8% | 64.5% |
| Texas | 56.9% | 1.5% | 58.4% |
| Utah | 58.5% | 1.4% | 59.9% |
| Vermont | 48.3% | 0.5% | 48.9% |
| Virginia | 68.7% | 0.6% | 69.3% |
| Washington | 50.8% | 1.1% | 51.9% |
| West Virginia | 59.0% | 2.3% | 61.4% |
| Wisconsin | 59.1% | 0.6% | 59.7% |
| Wyoming | 58.9% | 0.3% | 59.2% |
| US Total | 63.3% | 1.4% | 64.8% |
For the non-degree-granting schools, the highest rates are that for the District of Columbia (4.5%), the state of Oklahoma (4.2%) and the state of Rhode Island (3.2%) - all other states are below 3.0%. In 2006, the rate for the District of Columbia was 8.6%, which is way above the rate of all other states.
Chart: % non-degree-granting
Focusing on the degree-granting institutions, it is showed that the public-2-year colleges made the biggest stride to increase the college going rate, it jumped from 17.8% in 2006 to 19.7% in 2008, an increase of 1.9%. Other rate changes include the decrease of 0.4% for the private not-for-profit 4-year colleges and the increase of 0.2% in the private for-profit 4-year sector.
Sector rates by state
| State | % to Public 4 Year | % to Private 4 Yr Not For Profit | Trad. 4 Year | % to Private 4 Year For Profit | % to Public 2 Year | % to Private 2 Year Not For Profit | % to Private 2 Year For Profit | % to Degree Grntng |
| Alabama | 31.5% | 7.9% | 39.3% | 0.8% | 26.1% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 66.7% |
| Alaska | 35.3% | 6.9% | 42.2% | 1.9% | 1.6% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 45.8% |
| Arizona | 21.5% | 3.3% | 24.7% | 1.4% | 23.6% | 0.0% | 1.6% | 51.4% |
| Arkansas | 35.0% | 6.7% | 41.6% | 0.5% | 20.1% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 62.5% |
| California | 22.6% | 6.7% | 29.3% | 1.2% | 34.1% | 0.1% | 0.7% | 65.4% |
| Colorado | 37.6% | 10.6% | 48.2% | 1.6% | 11.6% | 0.1% | 1.1% | 62.7% |
| Connecticut | 23.8% | 27.7% | 51.5% | 1.4% | 14.8% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 68.1% |
| Delaware | 22.4% | 18.3% | 40.7% | 1.1% | 23.7% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 66.2% |
| District of Columbia | 23.7% | 21.3% | 45.0% | 1.9% | 3.7% | 0.2% | 2.7% | 53.4% |
| Florida | 29.4% | 8.2% | 37.6% | 2.9% | 17.6% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 58.8% |
| Georgia | 40.7% | 9.8% | 50.5% | 1.7% | 16.8% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 70.0% |
| Hawaii | 23.2% | 14.1% | 37.4% | 0.8% | 23.5% | 0.1% | 0.5% | 62.4% |
| Idaho | 28.1% | 9.3% | 37.4% | 0.6% | 11.6% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 50.2% |
| Illinois | 23.1% | 17.8% | 41.0% | 1.6% | 14.2% | 0.1% | 0.6% | 57.4% |
| Indiana | 40.1% | 14.1% | 54.2% | 1.8% | 8.3% | 0.2% | 1.2% | 65.7% |
| Iowa | 22.5% | 15.2% | 37.7% | 0.7% | 25.6% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 64.3% |
| Kansas | 32.3% | 9.0% | 41.3% | 0.6% | 22.9% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 65.4% |
| Kentucky | 32.6% | 11.1% | 43.7% | 1.2% | 14.8% | 0.0% | 1.1% | 60.9% |
| Louisiana | 43.2% | 6.5% | 49.8% | 0.6% | 13.6% | 0.0% | 1.2% | 65.3% |
| Maine | 24.5% | 22.5% | 47.0% | 0.6% | 13.2% | 0.0% | 0.5% | 61.3% |
| Maryland | 24.1% | 16.4% | 40.5% | 1.2% | 20.8% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 63.0% |
| Massachusetts | 23.6% | 33.3% | 56.9% | 0.8% | 16.6% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 74.7% |
| Michigan | 30.4% | 11.4% | 41.7% | 0.6% | 17.2% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 59.9% |
| Minnesota | 29.7% | 16.4% | 46.1% | 1.6% | 20.9% | 0.0% | 0.6% | 69.2% |
| Mississippi | 21.0% | 5.4% | 26.5% | 0.5% | 49.7% | 0.0% | 0.8% | 77.4% |
| Missouri | 25.5% | 12.2% | 37.7% | 1.3% | 19.2% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 60.0% |
| Montana | 34.2% | 9.2% | 43.4% | 0.7% | 12.5% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 57.5% |
| Nebraska | 34.2% | 12.3% | 46.5% | 0.9% | 17.8% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 65.5% |
| Nevada | 40.8% | 5.9% | 46.8% | 2.0% | 5.3% | 0.1% | 1.4% | 55.6% |
| New Hampshire | 21.7% | 25.9% | 47.6% | 1.7% | 14.4% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 63.9% |
| New Jersey | 23.9% | 23.9% | 47.8% | 1.7% | 21.3% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 71.2% |
| New Mexico | 33.0% | 4.0% | 36.9% | 0.6% | 29.5% | 0.1% | 0.6% | 67.7% |
| New York | 25.3% | 25.0% | 50.4% | 1.6% | 21.2% | 0.2% | 0.8% | 74.2% |
| North Carolina | 32.8% | 10.7% | 43.4% | 0.9% | 21.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 66.0% |
| North Dakota | 42.0% | 10.1% | 52.1% | 0.8% | 10.4% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 63.8% |
| Ohio | 33.2% | 15.8% | 49.0% | 1.0% | 10.9% | 0.1% | 1.9% | 62.8% |
| Oklahoma | 30.6% | 6.3% | 36.9% | 0.6% | 17.8% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 56.0% |
| Oregon | 23.1% | 10.7% | 33.8% | 1.0% | 11.3% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 46.5% |
| Pennsylvania | 28.2% | 19.9% | 48.1% | 1.1% | 11.3% | 0.8% | 2.8% | 64.1% |
| Rhode Island | 23.6% | 23.6% | 47.2% | 0.5% | 19.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 67.4% |
| South Carolina | 27.6% | 14.0% | 41.7% | 1.3% | 25.2% | 1.1% | 0.3% | 69.5% |
| South Dakota | 42.3% | 11.9% | 54.2% | 1.1% | 16.2% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 72.1% |
| Tennessee | 30.1% | 11.9% | 42.0% | 1.3% | 17.6% | 0.1% | 0.7% | 61.7% |
| Texas | 27.2% | 8.4% | 35.6% | 0.7% | 19.6% | 0.1% | 0.8% | 56.9% |
| Utah | 34.3% | 8.9% | 43.2% | 1.5% | 13.2% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 58.5% |
| Vermont | 21.3% | 22.6% | 43.9% | 0.5% | 3.7% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 48.3% |
| Virginia | 32.6% | 12.1% | 44.6% | 1.4% | 22.0% | 0.1% | 0.6% | 68.7% |
| Washington | 24.9% | 10.3% | 35.2% | 0.9% | 14.4% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 50.8% |
| West Virginia | 37.2% | 7.2% | 44.3% | 0.7% | 12.8% | 0.0% | 1.2% | 59.0% |
| Wisconsin | 34.4% | 11.2% | 45.6% | 1.1% | 11.9% | 0.1% | 0.4% | 59.1% |
| Wyoming | 23.3% | 4.3% | 27.6% | 0.6% | 29.7% | 0.1% | 0.9% | 58.9% |
| US Total | 28.3% | 13.2% | 41.5% | 1.2% | 19.7% | 0.2% | 0.8% | 63.3% |
Comparing rates between sectors, it is clear that United States sent most (41.5%) of their high school graduates to the traditional 4 year colleges, defined as the joint group of public 4-year schools and the private not-for-profit 4-year schools. The public 2-year schools take the next big share of 19.7% in 2008 with the rest of the sectors made up for the remaining 2.1%. However, even though this general observation is true for most states, the true rates vary by states.
To obtain an overall picture, it is helpful to put states in categories prescribed by the fraction of college going students that went to the public 2-year institutions. In doing so, most states are having rates below 40%, while few states stand out with large fraction of their students went to the 2-year public schools. Among these states are: Mississippi(64%), California(52%), Wyoming(50%) and Arizona(46%).
Chart: % 2-year public in all that going
Comparing with 2006, there are two states that have significantly increased the fraction of their public 2-year college going students. These two states are Arizona, which send additional 5,875 students to 2-year public schools to increase the rate from 37% to 46%, and California, which send additional 51,792 students to 2-year public school and increased its rate from 42% to 52%.
For completeness, it is also worth to note that Alaska(3%), District of Columbia(7%), Vermont(8%) and Nevada(10%) sent very few of their high school graduates to 2-year-public institutions.
To finish up, we present a chart of of the overall degree-granting college going rate by state and by sector.
