After high school: Gen Z feels unprepared -- charter grads earn more

Photo: Andy Barbour/Pexels

Most high school graduates enroll in college, but less than half believe they were prepared to succeed, according to Turning the Tassel: What Gen Z Says About Life After High School Graduation. Completion rates are low, writes Debbie Veney of Agency, Inc., which commissioned the Harris Poll survey. Thirty-nine percent who tried for a two-year degree and 48 percent who pursued a four-year degree reached their goals.

Recent public high school graduates who are employed average $85,988 a year, writes Veney. (This is much higher than other estimates.)

"Alumni of public charter schools consistently report higher salaries, greater degree completion, stronger financial independence and higher rates of homeownership than peers from district-run schools," she writes. The outcomes are "simply astounding."

Within 10 years of finishing high school, charter alumni earn $22,000 more per year than graduates of traditional public schools, according to the report. Thirty-five percent own their own homes, compared to 25 percent of non-charter alumni.

Charter school graduates "are slightly more likely to complete postsecondary degrees at each level of degree attainment, including associate, bachelor’s and graduate degrees – for a total of 7 percentage points higher," writes Verney. "Black, Latino, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Native American graduates who attended charter schools . . . are just as likely as their White counterparts from a district school to earn an associate or bachelor's degree — effectively closing the racial gaps in degree attainment."

Black, Latino, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or Native American charter graduates who are employed "earn nearly $55,000 more per year than alumni of color who did not graduate from a charter school."