Reducing the dropout rate
Dropout Statistics - “Dropouts face a future with the odds stacked against them.”
- 75% of state prison inmates are high-school dropouts
- High-school dropouts are 3 - 5 times more likely than graduates to be incarcerated
- The average annual cost of maintaining a prisoner is a least 3 times higher than the annual dollars expended to educate a school-age child
- Only 55% of adult dropouts were employed, compared to 75% of high school graduates and 87% of college grads
- The United States would save $41.8 billion in health care costs if the 600,000 young people who dropped out in 2004 were to complete one additional year of education
- If 33% of dropouts graduated, the United States would save $10.8 billion each year in food stamps, housing assistance, and temporary assistance for needy families
- Dropouts cost United States taxpayers more than $260 billion in lost wages, lost taxes, and lost productivity over their lifetimes
- The likelihood of living in poverty is nearly three times higher for high school dropouts than those who finished high school

AVERAGE ANNUAL EARNINGS
-College graduate = $49,890 (*62% higher than high school graduate)
-High school graduate = $30,800 (*43% higher than non-graduate)
-non graduate = $21,600

TOTAL LIFETIME EARNINGS
-Less than high school diploma = $1,052,647
-High school diploma = $1,418,890
-Some college, no degree = $1,702,780
-Associate Degree = $1,769,090
-Bachelor’s Degree = $2,498,260