College Graduation Rates Are Up. We Can Thank Community Colleges.

College graduation rates are up — in fact, they’re at the highest point in 12 years. New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that more than 60% of students who started working toward a degree in 2018 have finished. The real success story here: community colleges offering two-year degrees.

When Rebecca Hansen graduated high school, college wasn’t in the cards. She became a cosmetologist instead.

“My dad was like, ‘This is great. When are you starting college?’ And I was like, ‘This is it, Dad. I’m never going to college. Like, this is my career,'” she said.

But when the youngest of her four kids started school five years ago, she enrolled in a community college to study to become a therapist.

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