There was a marked decline in the first-year persistence rate in fall 2020 after remaining stable for the past four years. The overall persistence rate dropped two percentage points to 73.9 percent for fall 2019 beginning college students, its lowest level since 2012.
![College Persistence Rate Drops An Unprecedented 2 Percentage Points](https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/nscblog/wp-content/uploads/feature-persandretent21.jpg)