Students Earning Credentials at Younger Ages

Students are earning undergraduate credentials at younger ages, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

The latest “Undergraduate Degree Earners” report, released today, found that credential completions rose over all in the 2024–25 academic year compared to the previous year. More than 3.4 million people earned an undergraduate credential during the 2024–25 academic year, a 3.2 percent increase over 2023–24.

For the first time, students ages 18 to 20 made up the largest share of first-time associate degree earners, 32.6 percent, beating out older students ages 21 to 24. More broadly, the number of 18- to 20-year-olds who earned an associate degree was up 47.7 percent compared to a decade ago. A relatively small but fast-growing number of students under the age of 18—52,500—also earned their first undergraduate credentials. Students under 18 who completed their first associate degree tripled, while the number who finished their first certificates quadrupled. The report suggests that these trends reflect a surge in dual enrollment.

“This year’s increase in undergraduate credential attainment isn’t just about more completions—it’s also about timing,” Matthew Holsapple, senior director of research at the NSCRC, said in a news release. “More students are earning certificates and degrees earlier and that shift reflects how postsecondary pathways are changing and starting sooner than they once did.”

The report found that certificates are on the rise over all, with 579,400 learners across age groups earning certificates as their highest award, a 5.7 percent increase over the previous year. Other pathways saw growth as well. This marks the first year since 2018–19 in which completers of all undergraduate credential types rose year over year, and the first time in a decade that all types of higher ed institutions experienced an uptick in undergraduate credential completers.

Among those who completed a credential in 2024–25, 892,300 had earned a previous credential, most often an associate degree that they followed up with a bachelor’s degree. The 419,800 students who took that pathway increased 1 percent over the previous year, the first substantial growth in this category in four years, though still below annual growth rates from 2016–17 to 2020–21.