Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates, Fall 2009 Cohort. (Signature Report No. 10)

This fourth annual report on national college completion rates offers a look at the six-year outcomes for students who began postsecondary education in fall 2009, the cohort that entered college as the Great Recession was ending. It looks at the various pathways students took toward degree completion, as well as the completion rates through May 2015 for the different student types who followed each pathway. The report also provides discussion comparing the fall 2009 cohort's outcomes to those of the fall 2008 cohort. Major findings include: (1) Acceleration of the Decline in Overall Completion Rates; (2) Declines in Completion Rates across Ages and Enrollment Intensities; (3) Completion Rates Declined in Four-Year Institutions; (4) Decline in Completion Rates for Students Who Started at Two-Year Public Institutions Continued, Including Completions at Four-Year Institutions; and (5) Eight-Year Outcomes for Fall 2007 National Cohort. [For the supplement to this report, "Completing College: A State-Level View of Student Attainment Rates. State Supplement. (Signature Report No. 10a)," see ED596231.] [For "Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates--Fall 2008 Cohort (Signature Report No. 8)," see ED556471.]