Undergraduate Persistence
and Completion

About three-quarters of students who started at a private nonprofit four-year institution in fall 2011 completed their degrees within six years—63.7 percent did so at their starting institution, 10.0 percent at another four-year institution, and 2.3 percent did so at a two-year institution. Although the majority of all students, regardless of race or ethnicity, completed a credential within six years, Black or African American students had the lowest total completion rate among all groups (57.3 percent). Comparatively, 85.9 percent of Asian students, 81.9 percent of White students, and 72.3 percent of Hispanic or Latino students completed within six years.