Despite overall progress when it comes to improving teen graduation rates in the United States, the sobering fact remains that three out of every 10 students in U.S. public schools still fail to finish high school with a diploma. That amounts to 1.3 million students lost from the graduation pipeline every year or almost 7,200 students lost every day.1

A Silent Epidemic
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The upsetting disparity: Nearly all teens (95%) think that graduating from high school is critical to their future success, and an overwhelming 89% of teens think a college education is very important. 2
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71% of teens know someone who has dropped out of high school. When asked what those dropouts were doing now, 46% said they were unemployed; 53% said raising a child; 39% said working in a low-paying job; 29% said involved in a gang; and only 13% said the dropouts they knew were in a successful career. 3
• While more than three-quarters of white and Asian students earn a high school diploma, just 55% of Latino, 51% of African-American, and 50% of Native American students do. 4
• If high schools and colleges were able to raise the graduation rates of Hispanic, African American, and Native American students to the levels of white students by 2020, the potential increase in personal income across the nation would add, conservatively, more than $310 billion to the U.S. economy. 5
• Dropouts are more than eight times as likely to be in jail or prison as those with at least a high school diploma. 6
   
Economic Impact of Low Graduation Rates
• Over the course of his or her lifetime, a single high school dropout costs the nation approximately $260,000 in lost earnings 7
• Dropouts earn $9,200 less per year than high school graduates and more than $1 million less over a lifetime than college graduates. 8
• The government would reap $45 billion in extra tax revenues and reduced costs in public health, crime, and welfare payments if the number of high school dropouts among 20-year olds in the U.S. today, which numbers more than 700,000 individuals, were cut in half.9

1 “Diplomas Count 2009: Broader Horizons - The Challenge of College Readiness for All Students,” Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center (June 9, 2009)
2 “Teen Graduation Crisis Survey” – Taco Bell Foundation for Teens (March 2009)
3 “Teen Graduation Crisis Survey” – Taco Bell Foundation for Teens (March 2009)
4 “Diplomas Count 2009: Broader Horizons - The Challenge of College Readiness for All Students,” Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center (June 9, 2009)
5 Amos, Jason. Dropouts, Diplomas, and Dollars: U.S. High Schools and the Nation’s Economy (Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008).
6 Bridgeland, John; DiIulio, John, Jr.; Morison, Karen Burke (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. Washington DC: Civic Enterprises.
7 Amos, Jason. Dropouts, Diplomas, and Dollars: U.S. High Schools and the Nation’s Economy (Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008).
8 Bridgeland, John; DiIulio, John, Jr.; Morison, Karen Burke (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. Washington DC: Civic Enterprises.
9 Bridgeland, John; DiIulio, John, Jr.; Morison, Karen Burke (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. Washington DC: Civic Enterprises.