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Chart of the week: Postsecondary enrollment for D.C.’s students, class of 2022

April 11, 2025
  • Chelsea Coffin
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Credit:Imagesall4Ed (Source)

Updated data released by the U.S. Department of Education show where D.C.’s high school class of 2022 began postsecondary for a two- or four-year degree, including graduates of District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), public charter schools, and private schools.1 About 75 percent of D.C.’s alumni who went to postsecondary left D.C., and 25 percent attend a higher education institution in D.C. About half (51 percent) stay in the area in Maryland, Virginia, or D.C. Whether alumni attend postsecondary in D.C. or neighboring states impacts the extent to which they stay connected to the region—and continue to be part of D.C.’s population.

University of the District of Columbia (UDC) served the highest number of alumni, with 474 students enrolled. In Maryland and Virginia, University of Maryland Global Campus and George Mason University are the most attended.

Regardless of which degree they are pursuing, 67 percent of D.C.’s alumni attended public postsecondary institutions and 29 percent attended private not-for-profit institutions, with the remaining four percent attended private for-profit institutions. In school year 2021-22, 66 percent of public high school students were Black,2 and 35 percent of alumni of all of D.C.’s schools attended Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs). 

Among graduates of DCPS and public charter schools in 2022, 53 percent enrolled in postsecondary education for a two- or four-year degree.3 In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, an estimated 22 percent of students who enrolled in previous years completed a degree within six years.4

Endnotes

  1. An estimated 14.4 percent of students living in D.C. attended private schools in 2022. For more information, see the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education’s EdScape (https://edscape.dc.gov/node/13fo85301).
  2. Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME). 2025. EdScape: Public School Enrollment by Race and Ethnicity. Retrieved from https://edscape.dc.gov/page/schools-race-and-ethnicity
  3. Coffin, C. and Mason, H. 2025. State of D.C. Schools, 2023-24: Strong system health and modest progress. D.C. Policy Center. Retrieved from https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/state-of-d-c-schools-2023-24/
  4. Office of the City Administrator (OCA). 2022. Performance Plan: State Superintendent of Education. OCA. Retrieved from https://oca.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/oca/publication/attachments/OSSE22.pdf

Author

Chelsea Coffin

Director of the Education Policy Initiative
D.C. Policy Center

Chelsea Coffin is the Deputy Director of the D.C. Policy Center, leading the Education Policy Initiative. She joined the D.C. Policy Center in September 2017. Her research focuses on how schools connect to broader dynamics in the District of Columbia. She has authored reports on diversity in D.C.’s schools, the D.C. schools with the best improvement for at-risk students, and the transition after high school in D.C. Chelsea has also conducted planning analysis at the D.C. Public Charter School Board, carried out research at the World Bank, and taught English in a secondary school with the Peace Corps in Mozambique. She serves on the Board of Directors for District Bridges.

Chelsea holds a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College and a Master of Arts from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) in International Economics and Development.

You can reach Chelsea at chelsea@dcpolicycenter.org.

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