Report: More Than 660K Wisconsinites Have Some College Credit But No Degree

In 2018 there were more than 662,000 Wisconsinites that had earned some college credit but never finished their degrees, according to a new national study. The data also shows that between 2014 and 2018, nearly 16,000 people in the state went back to school and graduated.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report titled “Some College, No Degree” suggests there are more than 35.5 million people across the United States who have earned college credits without graduating. But again, the paper said there were around 940,000 completers between 2014 and 2018.

Doug Shapiro, research director for the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, says nearly a million people going back to college to finish degrees is a great success story that has been overlooked by traditional graduation rates and enrollment rates touted by universities.

“These kinds of successes have been invisible and ignored by traditional graduation rates for too long,” Shapiro said during a Nov. 5 presentation. “We should also be learning from them more because there are so many more potential completers out there who still haven’t found the path back or the program or the support or the resources that they need to be able to find their own success.”

Of those Wisconsin students who didn’t graduate, the report showed that 77 percent of them attended public, two-year colleges, while 17 percent attended a public four-year university. It identified more than 46,000 “potential completers” — students who had at least two years of academic experience. It also showed that among those students who re-enrolled and finished their studies between 2014 and 2018, half chose public two-year colleges.

Conor Smyth, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Technical College System, told WPR their colleges often hear from students who started college but never finished for a variety of reasons.

“They maybe didn’t have a great experience the first time they were in college,” Smyth said. “They’ve gained some work experience, career experience and now they’re ready to earn a credential either to advance in their work or just to meet a personal goal.”

According to the Wisconsin Technical College System annual transfer report, more than 10,000 students transferred to state technical colleges, mostly from two- and four-year campuses within the University of Wisconsin System.

UW Board of Regents President Drew Petersen told WPR that with existing and projected declines in the number of college-aged students across the nation, this population with some college but no degree is extremely important to the system and the state’s economy.

“Given that there are fewer high school seniors than we’ve had in quite some time, what a tremendous opportunity going after residents who have some college and no degree and getting them attractive opportunities for more educational attainment,” said Petersen. “That’s an area where I think we can really make a difference and utilize those citizens in Wisconsin for the betterment of our economy.”

According to the report, there were more than 16,000 students who had re-enrolled in some type of college in Wisconsin between 2014 and 2018 who have not yet graduated.