Interest in pursuing education beyond high school has dropped significantly among Vermont seniors since 2018, with the greatest decrease among students whose parents did not complete a four-year college degree. Those are the findings of the latest survey of high school students in their final year by the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation.
The 2022 survey, which is conducted every two years except in 2020 due to Covid-19, also illustrates the long-stretching effects of the pandemic. Nearly one in five seniors reported that the pandemic affected their post-high school plans in some way — by causing them to choose a school closer to home, rethink college, or decide to defer or take a gap year.
While the number of students saying they will enroll in college in the fall after graduation has hovered around 75% since 2012, it dropped to 70% in the latest survey.
