Approximately 43.1 million people in the United States have, at one time, enrolled in postsecondary education but did not complete their intended degree or certificate.
Why are students stopping out and what will bring these “Some College, No Credential” (SCNC) learners back?
A new report from Trellis Strategies attempts to answer those questions. In spring 2025, researchers surveyed 3,182 former undergraduate students who had been enrolled across 58 institutions – including 33 community colleges – to get to the heart of the matter.
More than a third (36%) of survey respondents were first-generation students, 25% were parenting students and 72% were working while enrolled.
Though a majority of survey respondents said they believe in the value of higher education –73% said that re-enrolling and completing their degree would improve their career earnings and potential – there are barriers to completion.
Why and how they leave
The reasons for leaving are not surprising. Survey respondents noted personal finances (35%), family or personal responsibilities (32%), employment (27%) and cost of attendance (25%) as the main reasons for stopping out.
“These findings reinforce that many SCNC students leave not due to a lack of academic ability, but because of challenges that could potentially be addressed through more responsive institutional policies and support systems,” the report’s authors say.
Of note, SCNC learners who attended a four-year institution were more likely to cite cost of attendance as reason for stopping out than those from community colleges (35% vs. 20%).
Former students rated their academic and administrative experiences high. For example, 91% were satisfied or very satisfied with their college’s registration process. But when it came to areas related to finances and academic advising, ratings were lower. Looking only at former two-year college students, 55% surveyed were satisfied or very satisfied with financial advising, and 58% felt satisfied or very satisfied about academic advising.
When SCNC learners did decide to leave school, most survey respondents (71%) didn’t speak with a faculty or staff member about their decision. That rate was higher for students from two-year colleges (75%) than for those from four-year institutions (62%).
Plans to return
SCNC learners surveyed also were asked about their interest in returning to college and 63% reported plans to re-enroll in a college or university at some point.
Of those who do want to return, 59% aim to re-enroll within the next year.
However, they are not all interested in re-enrolling at their prior institution. Only 28% indicated they would likely return to the same college or university.
When asked what their former institution could do to support their return, the top responses were more information about financial aid, course offerings/majors and academic advising.
“When students have paused their education, campuses should adopt a systems-based approach to re-enrollment,” the report’s authors suggest. “This may include investing in research and related strategies to better understand this population, establishing an ongoing outreach cadence to encourage re-enrollment, and redesigning institutional systems to reduce barriers for returning students.”
Trellis Strategies has a SCNC Data Explorer and an SCNC Toolkit to help campuses plan to re-engage former students.
