Reengaging dropouts is something everyone should care about.
Helping these students succeed now costs society far less than facing the results later. For example, dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be incarcerated. Dropouts face lives of poverty and limited opportunity.

• Annually, an estimated 1.2 million students drop out or fail to graduate with their peers.
• Students with a two year degree earn about twice as much as high school dropouts.
• Dropouts suffer significantly higher rates of unemployment and have shorter life spans.
• Recent studies show combined income and tax losses for a single national cohort of 18 year old high school dropouts is more than $190 billion over their lifetimes.

Helping underprepared young people graduate from college is critical too.

• A high school diploma alone is not enough for most family wage jobs.
• Depending on the community college, between 40% and 70% of students enroll in remedial classes, but well over half never complete them.
• Only 20% of students who enroll in two year institutions go on to earn a degree or certificate within 3 years.