Bringing This to Fruition

High percentages of young dropouts are either not employed or are not even in the labor force. The rate of engagement in high-risk behaviors such as premature sexual activity, early pregnancy, delinquency, crime, violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and suicide has found to be significantly higher among dropouts. 

Dropping out of high school is related to a number of negative outcomes. According to data from the Census Bureau’s 2017 Current Population Survey (CPS), the median earnings of adults ages 25 through 34 who worked full time, year round and who had not completed high school were lower than the earnings of those with higher levels educational attainment. For example, median earnings for full-time workers aged 25 through 34 who had not completed high school ($26,000) were lower than those of workers whose highest education level was high school completion ($32,000), an associate’s degree ($39,000), or a bachelor’s or higher degree ($55,000). Among 25- to 34-year-olds in the labor force, the unemployment rate for high school dropouts (13 percent) was higher than the unemployment rate of those whose highest level of educational attainment was high school credential (7 percent). In addition, dropouts age 25 and older were reported being in worse health than adults who were not dropouts, regardless of income (Pleis, Ward, and Lucas 2010). Dropouts also make up disproportionately higher percentages of the nation’s institutionalized population than of the nation’s noninstitutionalized population. Relative individuals who complete high school, the average high school dropout costs the economy approximately $272,000 over his or her lifetime in terms of lower tax contributions, higher reliance on Medicaid and Medicare, higher rates of criminal activity, and higher reliance on welfare (Levin and Belfield 2007). 

Fact: The overall high school graduation rate in Minnesota is 84%. White students (89%) and Asian students (89%) have the highest high school graduation rates of any other racial/ethnic groups. American Indian students (56%) and Black students (69%) have the lowest graduation rates.