BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – The college going rate reports the percentage of Idaho high school graduates that enroll in a college academic or career technical program in the fall semester immediately after graduating from high school.
Beginning in the early days of the pandemic, Idaho’s college going rate was reported as dropping from 45 percent in fall 2019, to 39 percent one year later. The rate stayed about the same for three years straight.
Now it turns out the drop wasn’t as significant as it first appeared.
“New data provided to the Board office by the National Student Clearinghouse shows that a significant percentage of Idaho students who enrolled in college outside of the state during those three years were not included in the original data,” said Andy Mehl, The Board’s educational analytics system program manager.
Fall-immediate college going rates usually change about one percentage point as data improves over time. The new data provided by the Clearinghouse shows that Idaho’s college going rates were three to five percentage points better than previously thought.
| Post Secondary Enrollment | Original Published College Going Rate | Revised College Going Rate |
| Fall 2020 | 39% | 42% |
| Fall 2021 | 38% | 43% |
| Fall 2022 | 39%* | 42%* |
*preliminary subject to change
“The National Student Clearinghouse has improved its processes and given us better data,” State Board Chief Technology Officer Chris Campbell said. “It shows that more Idaho students were going on to college during the pandemic than the data originally showed and that is positive news.”
Idaho’s latest college going data and many other reports, publications and data dashboards can be found on the Idaho State Board of Education Research website.
