Which students are most likely to drop out?
Asked by: Cameron Batz IV | Last update: August 2, 2025Score: 4.6/5 (1 votes)
Dropout data show that the student characteristics most associated with dropouts are at-risk, English learner, homeless, immigrant, and overage. 60% of dropouts are at-risk and 78% of dropouts are overage.
Which students are most at risk of dropping out?
- Low socioeconomic status.
- High family mobility.
- Low education level of parents.
- Large number of siblings.
- Not living with both natural parents.
- Family disruption.
Who is more likely to drop out?
There is a direct correlation between lower income and an increased risk of dropout among all postsecondary students. Older students are also more likely to drop out than students who first enrolled as teenagers. There is a lower percentage of college students who drop out between the ages of 35 and 64 than under 35.
Which group of students has the highest dropout rate?
Persistent Gaps: While overall rates have improved, significant gaps persist, with Hispanic and Black students still facing higher dropout rates than their Asian and White counterparts. In 2022, White students reported a dropout rate of 3.8%, while Hispanic students had a rate of 7.7%.
Who drops out of school the most?
Boys are much more likely to drop out than girls and dropouts are most likely from a family with a low socioeconomic status. There has been contention over the influence of ethnicity on dropout rates. However, it is clear that it does have some influence.
College Dropout vs. College Graduate
What race is most likely to drop out of school?
In 2022, the high school drop out rate for American Indian/Alaska Natives in the United States was 8.1 percent -- the highest rate of any ethnicity. In comparison, the high school drop out rate for Asians was 1.6 percent.
What is the #1 reason students drop out of college?
The No. 1 reason students have thought about leaving school is due to financial challenges (30 percent), followed by motivation or life changes (24 percent) and mental health challenges (18 percent).
What race has the lowest dropout rate?
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), 1-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data, 2012 through 2022. See Digest of Education Statistics 2023, table 219.80. lowest for those who were Asian (1.9 percent).
What kinds of students are most likely to drop out of high school?
DF: The majority are lower income, not necessarily living in poverty, but come from struggling families. Many are kids of color. But the most common through line is having some kind of learning challenge that doesn't get addressed and the student feels academically abandoned.
What subject has the highest dropout rate?
Their insights reveal that computer sciences are the subjects which suffer from the highest dropout rate at 9.8%, with medicine, dentistry and veterinary science being the subjects which see the lowest, at just 1.5%. There could be many reasons for a student to drop out of education.
What gender has the highest dropout rate?
College Dropout Rates by Gender
Data shows that students who had some college but failed to get a credential are 46.5% men and 44.5% women, with 9% missing (National Student Clearing House Research Center, 2024).
Are gifted kids more likely to drop out?
Robertson reported that 25% of all students who drop out of school do so by age 16, and between 18% and 25% of gifted and talented students drop out.
Are dropouts more successful?
College dropouts, on average, earn significantly less than their peers who graduate. According to studies, the median income of college graduates is almost twice that of those who only have a high school diploma. Dropping out may result in limited career options and lower starting salaries.
Who is most likely to drop out of college?
1 in 4 students at risk of not completing college
Students who are the first in their family to attend college are much more likely to consider leaving at some point, as are minorities and low-income students, who may also be juggling work commitments, the report found.
Why poor students drop out?
According to research, students from low-income families are 3.7 times as likely to drop out of school before they get a diploma. Students facing financial hardship at home often need to work jobs to contribute to the family finances. Sometimes, this leaves little to no time for study or focus on academic performance.
What age is most likely to drop out of high school?
Event dropout rates by age group—4.5 percent for 15- to 16-year-olds, 4.1 percent for 17-year-olds, 5.2 percent for 18-year-olds, 6.1 percent for 19-year-olds, and 5.8 percent for 20- to 24-year-olds—were not measurably different from each other in 2017 (table 1.1).
Who is most at risk for school dropout?
Links between dropout and negative outcomes were more pronounced for individuals who were in low SES families at age 5, rejected by elementary school peers, and became parents at a younger age; the dropout effect was decreased for individuals who had been treated for a behavioral, emotional, or drug problem by age 24.
What class has the highest dropout rate?
- Computer Science: 9.8 percent 💻
- Business: 8.6 percent 💼
- Advertising: 8 percent 🔊
- Journalism: 7.6 percent 📰
- Art: 7.3 percent 🎨
- Architecture: 7.2 percent 🏢
- Engineering: 7 percent 🏗️
- Biology: 6.8 percent🔬
Which gender is more likely to dropout of high school?
Statewide, girls (87% in 2021) are more likely to graduate high school with their class than their male peers (80% in 2021). More than 47,000 students from California's class of 2021 did not complete high school with their cohort—almost 1 in every 10 students.
What race is most educated?
Although all groups saw gains in postsecondary education degree attainment, Asian (66.5 percent) and White (52.9 percent) adults were much more likely than Black or African American (39.0 percent), American Indian or Alaska Native (32.2 percent), and Hispanic or Latino (29.5 percent) adults to have attained an ...
What state has the most dropouts?
At the forefront of states with the highest percentage of high school dropouts are California, Texas, and New York. California, despite being the most populous state, faces a significant educational hurdle with only 84.7% of residents aged 25 and over holding a high school diploma or higher.
What career has the highest dropout rate?
- Medicine. Many students leave engineering programmes due to the rigorous coursework and heavy workload that can be overwhelming.
- Engineering. ...
- Architecture. ...
- Law. ...
- Computer science. ...
- Philosophy. ...
- Mathematics.
Why did Bill Gates drop out of college?
Despite being admitted to the world's most prestigious university, billionaire Bill Gates decided to drop out to pursue his dreams of joining the software revolution! Bill Gates demonstrated an early interest in computers and programming.
Which major has the highest dropout rate?
Computer science majors have the highest dropout rate at 10.7%. Nearly one-third of dropouts are due to personal or family issues. California has the highest dropout rate, with 6.61 million students in 2023.
Why do high schoolers drop out?
While students drop out of school for many reasons, poverty is the common denominator for many of them; not only are poor children more likely to be academically unprepared, but they're also more likely to get sick, to lack parental support, or to have children themselves.