Graduation Rates

High School Graduation Makes a Difference. 

We know that for every 100 North Carolina students in ninth grade, 60 will complete high school four years later, 41 will enroll in college, and only 19 will receive an associate's degree within three years or a bachelor's degree within six years. In 1970, the average college graduate earned around 45 percent more money than a high school graduate. Today, college graduates earn 84 percent more.

We know that each high school dropout is eight times more likely to be in prison than a person with at least a high school diploma. In March 2008, 63 percent of N.C. Department of Correction inmates were high school dropouts and cost the state $635 million that year.