Chicago Public Schools students are increasingly earning college credits while still in high school and are graduating and enrolling in college at higher rates than in the past, but many still struggle to finish college and earn a degree.
Those are among the findings of a report released Friday by the To&Through Project and the UChicago Consortium on School Research, coupled with district data released earlier this week.
The report found that 56% of CPS students who graduated in the class of 2019 and immediately enrolled in a four-year college got their degree or a workforce certificate within six years, while 32% of those who immediately began at a two-year institution earned a degree or certificate within the same time period. Those percentages have barely budged for four years.
Overall, only 48% of 2019 CPS graduates who immediately enrolled in college earned a degree or certificate within six years, the report found — far below the 64% national rate.
At the same time, CPS students are graduating and enrolling in college at or near all-time high rates. CPS’ graduation rate rose to 82.6% for the class of 2025, and the graduation rate rose again for the class of 2026 to 83.4%, district officials said this week.
Meanwhile, 67% of the class of 2025 immediately enrolled in college, up from 58% a decade ago and above the national average, according to the report.
The data indicates that while more high schoolers are reaching the next level of their education, many still need additional resources and support once they get there.
But Dominique McKoy, executive director of the To&Through Project, added that it also shows how far graduation rates have grown in recent decades.
“We got to remember that within living memory this was a district in the city that had a high school graduation rate of 50%,” he said. “We had some community areas in the city of Chicago with high school graduation rates of 25%.”
The report also found persistent racial and gender disparities within college completion rates.
Among 2019 CPS graduates, young men were much less likely to graduate with a college degree in six years than young women — a pattern that held true across every racial and ethnic group, according to the report. The disparity was especially stark for young Black and Latino men, with fewer than one-third of whom graduating with a bachelor’s degree within six years.
Young Latina women, Asian and Pacific Islanders and white students in the class of 2019 completed a degree or certificate at higher rates, the report found.
Mckoy said that the data provides “probably some of the strongest evidence around the necessity around initiatives” such as CPS’ Black Student Success Plan, which aims to reduce academic disparities among Black students.
The report notes that students who started college in 2019 and those that graduated high school in 2025 went through major events that affected their schooling, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign last year.
Still, overall college completion rates among CPS students have slowly increased over time.
The percentage of CPS graduates who enrolled in a four-year college and completed a degree of any kind within six years increased from around 53% to just under 56% from the class of 2010 to 2019. And that increase was even higher for those who enrolled in two-year colleges.
The district’s graduation rate has risen steadily over the past two decades. In 2000, less than half of CPS students graduated within four years, district data show. CPS reached its all-time high graduation rate in 2023, when nearly 85% of students got their diploma on time, according to the To&Through and UChicago report.
These students are earning college and workforce credentials during their high school years at a higher rate, too. More than 57% of CPS graduates in the class of 2026 earned college credits and career certificates, 10 percentage points higher than four years ago, according to district data released this week.
That includes technical certifications in skilled trades, credit for Advanced Placement courses and the seal of biliteracy, an award that recognizes students who demonstrate proficiency in English and another language, which can qualify for college credit.
