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October 10th, 2005

Lots of people enroll in college, but not everyone actually ends up earning a degree. The good news is that over the past 30 years, the proportion of adults who have completed a four-year college degree has almost doubled, according to the College Board 2007 study “Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society.” The study found there were many different factors that were associated with students who actually completed their education and earned a degree.

For students enrolled in four-year colleges and universities, higher degree completion rates were associated with factors like higher test scores, family incomes, and parent education levels. Among students who enrolled in college in 1995, 80 percent of those who scored in the highest SAT quartile, 76 percent of those who scored in the third quartile, and 60 percents of those who scored in the lowest two quartiles, completed a bachelor’s degree by 2001. Parent education levels were found to be influential, with 76 percent of students who had at least one parent with a college degree completing their education compared to 62 percent of students who did not. Income levels also affected degree completion with 78 percent of students with family income levels over $70,000, 71 percent of students with family income levels ranging from $40,000 to 69,999, and 62 percent of students with family income levels below $40,000, completing a degree by 2001.

Among low-income college students whose parents did not attend college, 71 percent of those who scored over 1100 on the SAT and 63 percent of those who scored between 950 and 1100 completed a bachelor’s degree by 2001. Only 55 percent of those with lower SAT scores managed to complete their education by 2001. High SAT scores and income levels were also found to be indicative of degree completion regardless of parent education. Even though their parents did not attend college, the study found that middle-income college students with the highest SAT scores were more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree than low-income students with a college educated parent.

College students who were the most likely to complete their degrees had high SAT scores, college-educated parents, and higher incomes. Among those students who scored within the highest quartile of the SAT, 86 percent of those coming from families who had incomes of $70,000 or higher completed their bachelor’s degree by 2001. Eighty-three percent of students coming from middle-income families finished school by 2001 and 75 percent of those from low-income families did.

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