Making the Case

Key Messages and Data • Making the Case Resources • Media Activity • Speeches and Addresses • Books and Reports •

Fact 1 - "At-Risk" Students
Private and public institutions enroll comparable numbers of students with at-risk characteristics (19 percent vs. 14 percent). Private institutions, however, do a better job of helping these students attain their degrees. In fact, students with multiple risk factors* (two or more) graduate from private institutions at more than twice the rate of their peers at public institutions.

Source: Analysis by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities as reported in Twelve Facts That May Surprise You About Private Higher Education (2003). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Descriptive Summary of 1995-96 Beginning Postsecondary Students: Six Years Later.

*Risk factors include: financial independence, delayed college enrollment, working full-time, attending school part-time, having dependents, being a single parent, having no high school diploma.