A recent report on college completion from the National Student Clearinghouse shows that private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities have the highest six-year completion rates among all higher education sectors. For students in the 2006-2014 entering cohort, the six-year completion rate at private, nonprofit four-year institutions stood at 76.7%, a slight increase over last year.

The completion rates for the other higher education sectors are: 67.4% at public four-year institutions; 45.5% at for-profit four-year institutions; and 40.3% at public two-year colleges. Counted in these completion rates are all students who enter postsecondary education for the first time each year, enroll full-time or part-time at two-year or four-year institutions, and complete at any U.S degree-granting institution, even after transferring or stopping out. Additional data are available for eight-year completion rates, by race/ethnicity, and by state.

This analysis is particularly useful as public policy discussions proceed on how to fund students, with a focus on the importance of their eventual completion of a degree.