Recap: Persisting through the Pandemic and Beyond

On June 16, 2026, the Boston Foundation released Persisting Through the Pandemic and Beyond: Trends in the College Enrollment, Persistence, and Completion Experiences of Boston Public Schools Graduates, in partnership with the Boston Private Industry Council. The report examines college enrollment and completion rates among students in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.  

At the start of the webinar, Antoniya Marinova, associate vice president of programs, spoke about the Boston Foundation’s commitment to improving postsecondary outcomes for students since the release of the first Success Boston report in 2008, using data to “hold up an honest mirror to ourselves as a city about how well we are serving our young people.” 

Marinova previewed the report’s findings, noting that “despite multiple challenges, enrollment and completion have stabilized. Enrollment is trending back up, although neither has yet reached their pre-pandemic levels.”  

Joseph McLaughlin, director of research and strategy at Boston Private Industry Council, introduced the data by emphasizing the importance of measuring college completion as a way to strengthen educational advising systems and improve student outcomes. “We know that a college credential provides a path to higher labor market earnings, and that demand in our state for college-educated workers still remains quite high,” McLaughlin said. “While it’s not the only path to better job prospects, college graduates are more likely to climb the economic ladder.” 

Erik Barajas, research data analyst at Boston Private Industry Council, joined McLaughlin to share data showing that Boston Public Schools (BPS) students have experienced significant pandemic-related setbacks in college completion and enrollment. College enrollment rates fell dramatically right after the pandemic, though they are trending back up. Overall, just over 57 percent of high school graduates from the BPS class of 2024 enrolled in college. Meanwhile, six-year college completion rates have remained fairly flat over the past few years. For the class of 2019, the completion rate was just shy of 51 percent. The data also showed notable disparities in college completion rates by race and socioeconomic status. Black and Latino students completed college at rates more than 34 percentage points lower than White and Asian students. Economically disadvantaged students had completion rates 20 percentage points lower than their more affluent peers.  

Alyssa Ratledge, senior research associate, MDRC, reflected on this data, highlighting how college completion rates are significantly lower in community colleges that primarily serve students of color, low-income students, and first-generation learners. Additionally, she noted that college enrollment decreased most in higher-poverty, more urban school districts. 

To explain these trends, Ratledge shared that “a lot of students are coming in with academic challenges, so they may have attended high schools that did not offer the coursework that was needed for them to be successful in college math or science classes.” Additionally, “low-income students face really substantial financial barriers, so beyond the cost of tuition and fees alone, they struggle with things like textbooks, and extremely expensive transportation costs can be very difficult.” She also shared that students today are more likely to be caregivers for family members, making college enrollment processes and paperwork increasingly difficult to complete on time.

Ratledge shared that while targeted programs like standalone college advising and course placement may help a little, they have limited success. “Most of our low-income students are facing multiple barriers to success, and what they need are more comprehensive programs with multiple strategies that are sustained over time.” 

As an example, Ratledge presented the CUNY ASAP program, a comprehensive support model that has shown positive effects on low-income college students’ enrollment and completion rates. The program provides students with a dedicated advisor and integrates career services, tutoring, and financial support, including tuition waivers, textbook stipends, and monthly Metro Cards. The results have shown that CUNY ASAP nearly doubled graduation rates, demonstrating that addressing multiple student barriers simultaneously through comprehensive support is far more effective than single-intervention approaches. 

Marsha Inniss-Mitchell, executive director of postsecondary initiatives at Boston Public Schools, closed the event by celebrating the progress made while acknowledging the long journey ahead. She encouraged attendees to continue working toward connecting systems of support, expanding personalized advising, and sustaining commitment across district, state, and philanthropic partners. 

Innis-Mitchell concluded by calling on the audience to “recover the progress that we lost over time, to close persistent gaps, and to ensure that every young person in Boston is on a clear path that feels supported to them.”