Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., Yuan, X., Harrell, A., Wild, J., Ziskin, M. (2014, July). Some College, No Degree: A National View of Students with Some College Enrollment, but No Completion (Signature Report No. 7). Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

“Over the past 20 years, more than 31 million students have enrolled in college and left without receiving a degree or certificate. The size of this population is an indication of the many unique strengths, and some weaknesses, of the American higher education system. Yet, relatively little is known about the students themselves. Using national data on their enrollments over time and across institutions, this report seeks to answer some important questions about the characteristics and postsecondary education enrollment patterns of this population: What types of colleges did they attend?  How long has it been since they last enrolled?  How much college have they actually completed? This report was able to identify the some college, no degree population by tapping a unique database of enrollment and degree records from the National Student Clearinghouse, rather than the traditional method of conducting surveys of a representative sample of adults. The Clearinghouse data allowed us to dig deeper into the “some college” phenomenon, exclude those who earned degrees or certificates, and analyze in detail the enrollment pathways of this former student population. Almost one-third of this population had only a minimal interaction with the higher education system, having enrolled for just a single term at a single institution. For those who had completed at least two terms of enrollment, these pathways often involved non-traditional patterns, such as stopping out, enrolling part time, enrolling at older ages (well after completing high school), and enrolling at multiple institutions. This report’s major focus is this latter group: the population for whom we identified more than one enrollment record. These multiple-term enrollees proved to have diverse pathways through higher education, many extending over years and across institutions, that may offer insights for educators and policy makers who, with better understandings of these students, may be able to improve programs and services to better meet their needs in the future. We also made another selection of students who had at least two full academic years’ worth of college, whom we called potential completers, recognizing that for most students this would be significant progress toward a two-year credential and half-way to the four-year baccalaureate.”