The Hechinger Report: “he share of students returning for their second year of college fell in 2020 to the lowest level since 2012, and the omicron surge and lingering uncertainty around the virus could deepen the dropout crisis …Of the 2.6 million students who started college in fall 2019, 26.1 percent, or roughly 679,000, didn’t come back the next year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. That was an increase of 2 percentage points over the previous year, and the highest share of students not returning for their sophomore year since 2012. The dropout spike was even more startling for community college students like Izzy, an increase of about 3.5 percentage points.Researchers usually look at how many college freshmen become sophomores because if a student is going to drop out, that’s when it’s most likely to happen.While national figures on dropping out of college have not yet been compiled for the current school year, the omicron surge and the continued uncertainty around the virus are elevating concerns that the numbers of students abandoning college could continue to grow.The rising dropout rate on college campuses has consequences for individual students, their families and the economy. People who leave college before finishing are more likely to face unemployment and earn less than those who complete bachelor’s degrees, and they are about  three times as likely to default on their student loans. With fewer college-educated workers to fill skilled jobs, the economy could also suffer in terms of lost business productivity and lower GDP…”