Student retention at the post-secondary level is affected by numerous variables. A local Task Force on College Degree Attainment, comprised of leaders from local universities and other educational institutions, economic development, and industry, is seriously studying this issue. The Task Force has defined three component categories of individuals in Spartanburg County who have potential to complete college degrees – "non-attenders" who have graduated from high school but have not pursued post-secondary education, "non-persisters" who begin college but do not persist to graduation, typically dropping out after the freshman year, and "non-completers" who are working adults with some college but who have not completed for various reasons.

Generally, the primary obstacles to access to and success in post-secondary education are unmet financial need, inadequate academic preparation, and insufficient information, guidance and encouragement (Lumina Foundation, 2008). Indeed, a 2008 survey of 3,327 Spartanburg County high school seniors reflected the impact of obtaining funding, deciding which college to attend, and parents’ attitude toward post-secondary education as primary factors in students’ decisions to go to college.

The Task Force on College Degree Attainment has found that if students successfully complete their freshman year and reenroll as sophomores, the odds are very high that they will graduate from college. At USC Upstate, approximately 30% of students do not persist into their sophomore year. Persistence rates are higher for students at Wofford and Converse Colleges. The graph below illustrates the percentage of full-time, first time degree / certificate seeking undergraduate students who began college in Fall 2004 and continued through Fall 2006.

No data exist on the number of "non-completers" in Spartanburg County; however, the Task Force on College Degree Attainment estimates this number to be in excess of 10,000. A significant number of individuals may have come within a few courses of earning a college degree or may hold an associate’s degree or technical certificate but have never pursued a bachelor’s degree.

National data indicate that

Graduation rates for Spartanburg’s colleges and universities vary (for full-time, first time degree / certificate seeking undergraduates) from a high of 79% for Wofford College to a low of 15% for Spartanburg Community College (although much of the enrollment at S.C.C. is non-degree seeking).

 It should be noted that graduation rates are based on first time, full-time freshman cohorts who graduate within six years (150% of expected completion time) – students who transfer to other schools are not deleted from the cohort. Therefore, when considering graduation rates, it is instructive to consider also numbers of degrees awarded which, among Spartanburg colleges and universities at the bachelor’s level, vary from 116 at Converse College to 867 at USC Upstate 2005-2006. In 2005-2006, local colleges and universities graduated a total of 2,066 students.