1998 College Enrollment and Work Activity of High School Graduates — 1999-06-25

Nearly two-thirds of 1998 high school graduates were enrolled in colleges or universities in the fall, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The proportion of graduates going on to college was little changed from the prior 2 years. The rate had been about 62 percent from 1992 to 1995. This information is from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 50,000 households that provides data on employment, unemployment, and other characteristics of the population. Questions relating to school enrollment and high school graduation status are asked each October in a supplement to the basic CPS. Additional information about the October supplement is included in the Technical Note. Of the 2.8 million youth who graduated from high school in 1998, 1.8 million (65.6 percent) were attending college in October. The enrollment rate of young women, 69.1 percent, continued to exceed that of young men, 62.4 percent.