KALAMAZOO, MI – About 54% of Kalamazoo Public Schools’ graduating class of 2023 enrolled in college last fall, compared with 57% of the graduating class of 2022, according to new data from the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
The good news: As the data shows, college attendance rates in KPS continue to be slightly above the national average and well above the average for similar Michigan districts like KPS.
The Kalamazoo-based think tank published the data on its new Kalamazoo Promise dashboard.
The Kalamazoo Promise is a scholarship program for KPS graduates who have been in the district since at least high school. It covers 65% to 100% of tuition at Michigan’s public and private colleges. Students who start KPS in 10th grade or later are not eligible – but more than 90% of students are eligible.
The 54% college enrollment rate for KPS graduates in the class of 2023 is just above the Michigan public school district average of 53%. The college enrollment rate for students in comparable urban school districts in Michigan was 47%.
The data show that about 39 percent of Promise-eligible students enrolled in a four-year university, compared with 38 percent statewide and 26 percent of students in comparable urban districts.
The bad news: College enrollment rates have plummeted across the state over the past decade, and the situation has gotten worse since the pandemic.
Moreover, the decline was particularly severe for KPS.
Promise data shows that 76% of KPS students in the class of 2014 enrolled in college within six months of graduating high school, compared to 66% statewide and 59% in urban districts like KPS.
That’s a 22-point drop for KPS, compared to 13 points statewide and 12 points for other urban counties.
At KPS, the decline was most pronounced among black women.
In the class of 2019, just before the pandemic, 60% of Black women eligible for the Promise program enrolled in college within six months. In the class of 2023, that figure was 45%. College attendance rates for Black men were 47% and 45%, respectively.
Meanwhile, college enrollment among white women eligible for the Promise program has increased since 2019, when 70% of white women enrolled, compared to 75% in the class of 2023.
For white men, the college attendance rate was 65% in 2019 and 62% in 2023.
Students eligible for the Promise Scholarship have 10 years to use the scholarship. About 50% of those whose scholarship eligibility has expired have completed some post-secondary education, and 77% of that group have at least a bachelor’s degree.
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