In December 2024, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released a report on credential attainment among college students nationwide. The six-year completion rate in New Jersey for the 2018 cohort reached 61%, marking a 0.9 percentage point increase from the previous cohort. This reflects a national trend where the six-year completion rate also peaked at 61% for the same cohort, up by 0.5 percentage points from the prior year.
New Jersey ranks 25th among U.S. states in terms of six-year completion rates for the 2018 cohort. The District of Columbia and Rhode Island reported the highest rates at 82% and 72%, respectively. Only ten states saw a greater increase than New Jersey's one percentage point or more rise.
Community colleges were pivotal in improving New Jersey's six-year completion rate for this cohort, achieving a rate of 43%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to their predecessors. In contrast, public four-year and private nonprofit four-year institutions experienced declines in their completion rates by fall starters in 2018, with decreases of 1.1 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively.
Full-time students starting in fall showed significantly higher completion rates than part-time students, with nearly two-thirds completing their credentials within six years compared to about one-third of part-time students. Both groups improved over their counterparts from the previous year’s cohort.
Dual enrollment experience appears beneficial; first-time college students who had taken dual enrollment courses before starting college achieved a six-year completion rate of 72%, while those without such experience completed at a rate of only 59%.
Among age groups within the same cohort, those aged 20 or younger had the highest completion rate at 64%. They were also unique in showing improvement over previous cohorts with an increase of nearly one percentage point.
The report highlights disparities among racial groups as well; Asian students recorded the highest completion rates across all institution types followed by White students, while Hispanic and Black students showed lower overall completion figures during this period but tended to complete programs more frequently at private nonprofit four-year institutions.
Angie Nga Le is noted as contributing to this research effort as a postdoctoral associate affiliated with New Jersey State Policy Lab.
