Percent of high school seniors who say they “definitely will” or “probably will” graduate from a two-year college program.
Johnston, L. D., J. G. Bachman, and P. M. O’Malley. Monitoring the Future: Questionnaire Responses from the Nation’s High School Seniors (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research), selected years. The authors’ estimates are based on the Monitoring the Future Study conducted at the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
The Monitoring the Future survey is administered to high school seniors in the spring of each year. Data collection takes place in approximately 130 public and private high schools selected to provide an accurate cross-section of high school seniors throughout the coterminous United States.
Students are asked: “How likely is it that you will do each of the following things after high school?” For each of “Attend a technical or vocational school,” “Serve in the armed forces,” “Graduate from a two-year college program,” “Graduate from college (four-year program),” and “Attend graduate or professional school after college,” they are asked to choose among “Definitely won’t,” “Probably won’t,” “Probably will,” or “Definitely will.”
For more detailed information about the survey design and sampling procedures, see the introduction of the 2009 Monitoring the Future volume.