Um-- "higher education" would also include other post-secondary institutions such as for-profits, and community colleges, which have notoriously awful rates of completion.
That situation is a little more complicated than I used to think, though, if you read about it...
Anyway. Again, I have to insert the huge caveat that I did not watch the video. However, it sounded like it said that "2/3 of high school graduates enroll in higher education right after high school" followed by and "only a quarter of those that enroll will finish a bachelor's degree." This is a misleading way to present the facts (for one thing, many of "those who enroll" have no intention of receiving a BACHELOR'S degree) and I am instantly annoyed by anyone who would do it this way. The statistic of about 50-60% of students graduating in 6 years from 4-year colleges is widely known in education circles. To cut this to 25% is dishonest. (He might say "Well, I didn't mean 4-year colleges" but when you say "bachelor's degree"...Say what you mean and be accurate, even if it takes longer.)
I agree with ultramarina's observations, and as she has noted, this is not always the case
. Furthermore, someone advising people whether or not to attend college should tell them to evaluate their
own chances of graduating, rather than relying on averages (which the author misstated). A research-based tool for this is the
Expected Graduation Rate Calculator, from the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, which asks for SAT/ACT scores, high school GPA, and demographic information.
