Indicator: 32 - Youth Planning to Attend College

Why This Is Important

Obtaining additional education after completing high school increases employment
opportunities and income potential for young people. Increasing the aspirations of Maine
students is a primary goal of many of Maine's educational policymaking groups.

 

 

Where We Stand

The percentage of high school graduates planning to attend post-secondary school grew
somewhat between 1996 and 2003. These figures include graduates from all public high
schools, from private high schools with at least 60% publicly-funded students, and from
state-funded schools. Separate tabulations for all other private schools in the state show that
about 90% of their graduates intended to enroll in post-secondary programs over this same
period.

In comparison, slightly different data on youth transition to college is available from the
National Center for Education Statistics for the nation as a whole from 1996 to 2001. The
percentage of high school completers enrolled in college the October after finishing high school
for those years was 65.0% in 1996, 67.0% in 1997, 65.6% in 1998, 62.9% in 1999, 63.3%
in 2000, and 61.7% in 2001.

 

Data Sources and Context

The source of Maine data for this indicator is the Maine Department of Education. Figures
include high school graduates who intend to or are enrolled full- or part-time in post-secondary programs, according to a survey administered by local educational units and submitted in the
fall following graduation. The rate is calculated as a percent of all students graduating (including
regular diploma, other diploma, high school equivalency, or certificate of completion) during the previous school year or subsequent summer school. The data is available on-line at http://www.state.me.us/education/enroll/grads/gradspost.htm.

U.S. data is from the National Center for Education Statistics’ annual publication, The Condition
of Education (available on-line at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/list/i3.asp).