In August and September of 2021, the EdWeek Research Center surveyed nearly 1,500 high-achieving high school graduates from the Class of 2021 to assess the pandemic鈥檚 impact on their high school experiences and post-high school plans. The nationally representative survey found that 2021 graduates saw heightened stress along with financial hardship as they enrolled in college, started full-time work, or took on caregiving roles.
The findings included in this report extend the results of a similar EdWeek Research Center study of high-achieving students in the Class of 2020. They suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded inequities in the college planning process, leading to abrupt changes in plans鈥攑articularly for low-income graduates. They also show that the effects of the pandemic on students鈥� postsecondary transition deepened from 2020 to 2021.
It鈥檚 not yet clear whether the postsecondary disruptions brought on by COVID-19 represent short- or longer-term changes in plans for 2021 graduates. Regardless, strengthening non-traditional pathways to college will likely be critical in helping students who graduated during the pandemic find their way back to postsecondary education.