Projections of High School Graduates Through 2037
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Diversification of High School Graduates and Undergraduates
High school graduating classes have become more diverse over the last decade (from 55% non-white in the Class of 2012 to a projected 62% in the Class of 2022), with Hispanic high school graduates becoming the largest share of graduates in recent years. However, Hispanic undergraduates continued to be underrepresented among the region’s postsecondary enrollments despite continued growth in undergraduate enrollment over the past decade.
Notes: High school graduates are public high school graduates, which have historically been 93% of all high school graduates in the West. High school graduate counts data are not available for the U.S. Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States. “Foreign” students, “two-more races”, and “unknown” populations are disaggregated in undergraduate enrollments, but not high school graduates. Undergraduate enrollments are for undergraduates at two- and four-year degree-granting, Title IV-eligible, public and private nonprofit institutions, excluding service academies.
Sources: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Fall Enrollment Survey, 2012-2022, and WICHE, Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates, 2020.
For more information, please contact:
Colleen Falkenstern
Director of Evidence and Strategic Initiatives, Policy Analysis and Research
303.541.0313cfalkenstern@wiche.edu
Colleen Falkenstern serves as the Director of Evidence and Strategic Initiatives in WICHE’s Policy Analysis and Research unit. In her role, she leads the unit’s work on a range of postsecondary education data and research initiatives and the development of data resources to support better informed decision-making in the West. These resources include WICHE’s annual collection of tuition and fees data and WICHE’s quadrennial projections of high school graduates, Knocking at the College Door. In her time at WICHE, she has worked on projects supporting Native American Serving Nontribal Institutions, addressing healthcare workforce issues, better alignment between higher education and workforce, and postsecondary completion. She received a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from the University of South Carolina—Columbia and a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Denver.
