The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center unveiled its 14th annual High School Benchmarks report on September 17, 2026. The study follows the post-secondary paths of the high-school class of 2025, comparing outcomes for graduates of low-poverty and high-poverty schools. For the purpose of the analysis, a high-poverty school is defined as one where at least 75% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, whereas a low-poverty school has fewer than 25% of such students.
Immediate enrollment remains split by school poverty level
Among students leaving low-poverty schools, 73.9% enrolled in college during the fall of their graduation year. The figure for high-poverty schools lagged at 51.2% a 22.7-point differential that mirrors the gap recorded for the class of 2024 (73.1% vs. 50.8%). The report notes that the shift in immediate enrollment was less than one percentage point across every school type, even as colleges processed a record 10.8 million applications.
Where students go after high school
When the destination type is broken down, the disparity widens. 60.1% of low-poverty graduates entered four-year institutions more than double the 28.9% from high-poverty schools. Conversely, two-year colleges attracted 22.3% of high-poverty graduates compared with only 13.8% of their low-poverty peers, reflecting the growing appeal of community colleges for younger adults.
Persistence and completion: the long-term picture
Looking beyond the first semester, the report tracks persistence for the class of 2023. Within two years of graduation, 77.9% of low-poverty students were still enrolled versus 58.7% of high-poverty students a 19.2-point spread. In the second year, 90.6% of low-poverty graduates continued while 76.0% of those from high-poverty schools remained, leaving a 14.6-point gap that translates into higher dropout rates and unrecovered loan balances.
Six-year degree completion paints an even starker contrast. For the class of 2019, the national six-year graduation rate stood at 61%, yet the gap between poverty levels was a 34.2-percentage-point difference. Graduates of low-poverty schools were nearly three times more likely to obtain a STEM degree (22.3% vs. 7.5%), a factor that heavily influences lifetime earnings.
Modest improvements for high-poverty graduates
Despite the persistent gap, the data highlight the only area of measurable progress: second-year persistence for high-poverty students rose by 1.7 points to 76.0% the largest gain among all school categories. Enrollment within two years also increased by 2.1 points for this group, reaching 58.7%. Matthew Holsapple, senior director of research at the Clearinghouse, explained, “The improvements in persistence are modest, but they point to more students enrolling and persisting in college.” He added that the gains were the most pronounced among high-poverty graduates.
Urban and rural schools saw smaller upticks—0.7 and 0.8 points in persistence, respectively—while suburban schools edged up by 0.3 points to 86.8%. The report cautions that its sample, drawn from 12,023 public non-charter high schools, 1,555 charter schools and 221 private schools, is voluntary and not nationally representative, with private institutions comprising only 4.2% of the dataset.
Policy backdrop and financial implications
The findings arrive during the first academic year after the federal student-loan limits were tightened and low-earning degree programs lost eligibility for federal aid. Because graduates of high-poverty schools are the least likely to finish a degree, the risk of accumulating debt without the associated wage premium rises sharply. Prior research indicates that free community-college programs can boost earnings by roughly 8% without additional taxpayer cost, underscoring the potential value of two-year pathways for this demographic.
Looking ahead, the Clearinghouse will issue a 2027 edition that will reveal whether the modest gains observed for the class of 2025 endure and whether persistence continues to improve for the class of 2024. Families weighing college decisions are encouraged to compare actual net costs after aid, rather than focusing solely on sticker prices.
