The Abridged version:
- About 68% of the region’s public school class of 2023 enrolled in college within a year of graduation.
- A lack of in-person instruction during pandemic lockdowns left many students feeling unprepared for college.
- Enrollment at the Los Rios Community Community College District has dramatically bounced back.
After falling sharply during the pandemic, the number of Sacramento area high school graduates going to college is starting to rise, approaching the record highs before COVID-19 lockdowns.
About 68% of the region’s public school class of 2023 enrolled in college within a year of graduation, up from a college-going rate of about 64% during each of the previous two years, new state data shows.
Before the pandemic, about 70% of the region’s high school graduates attended college within a year of graduation.
A college education remains a key predictor of eventual financial success in the Sacramento region. Sacramento adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s as their highest degree earned median pay of around $80,500 in 2024, almost double the median pay of the region’s high school graduates without any college, census data shows.
A lack of in-person instruction during pandemic lockdowns left many students feeling unprepared for college. Others didn’t want to attend “ZOOM U” and not be able to interact in person with other college students, according to a Brown University study. At the same time, after the initial shock of lockdowns, a strengthening labor market and rising wages made entering the workforce more attractive.
Impact of lockdowns is fading
But the lingering effects of COVID-19 lockdowns are fading, and there is more uncertainty about the economy, encouraging recent graduates to attend college.
Increased enrollment at California community colleges is largely driving the trend, though enrollment at CSU campuses also increased.
“We’re trying to make college more affordable. We’re far more affordable than any other option,” said Mario Rodriguez, executive vice chancellor and chief business officer for the Los Rios Community College District, the largest college system in the Sacramento region.
Return to community college
Enrollment at the Los Rios Community Community College District has dramatically bounced back since plummeting in 2020, 2021 and 2022, state data shows.
In fall 2025, Los Rios’ four colleges enrolled more students than during fall 2019, the last full semester before COVID lockdowns.
“We lost about 20% of our enrollment in the first two years of the pandemic,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve gotten that back, plus nearly 10% more over the last few years.”
Rodriguez credits a rise in dual enrollment offerings for much of the trend. Students in high schools across the region can now more easily take community college courses before they graduate, earning college credit and instilling confidence.
“Pre-pandemic, we had barely any dual enrollment going on,” Rodriguez said, “Now it’s about 7% of our enrollment, which is amazing, and we think it could be 10-plus percent over the next few years.”
Los Rios’ colleges have also expanded their online courses and now offer about half of classes online, making it easier for students to hold down a job while taking classes.
“They’re like, ‘Can I just do it online? I don’t want to fight traffic,’” Rodriguez said.
The economy could also be playing a role.
In 2021 and 2022, as Los Rios’ enrollment lagged, the unemployment rate for 18- and 19-year-olds sat near historic lows. In November 2025, by contrast, about 15.6% of 18- and 19-year-olds nationwide were unemployed, up about five percentage points from just a few years prior, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the same time, after rising soon after the pandemic, wage growth among 16- to 19-year-old full-time workers has stalled.
Increased unemployment tends to lead to increased community college enrollment, and vice versa, several studies show.
Top of the mountain
Almost three-fourths of the region’s high schools saw a higher percentage of the class of 2023 entering college when compared to the class of 2022, state data shows.
West Campus, a magnet school in Sacramento, stood at the top of the mountain, sending more than 95% of its 2023 graduates to college, a higher rate than any other high school in the area.
West Campus has a big advantage. Students must have a high GPA just to apply to the school. Then they enter a lottery and cross their fingers that they will be admitted.
Once they arrive, West Campus officials immediately slot students into classes that will meet the requirements for entry into the University of California system.
“We keep them in a rigorous schedule all four years, which is going to make them more competitive when they’re applying to colleges,” said West Campus Principal John McMeekin.
School officials encourage students to repeatedly take the PSAT to prepare for the real test. The school employs two full-time academic counselors to help with college applications, hosting workshops to make sure that students do not get frustrated. Families can schedule appointments with the counselors online throughout the year.
“A lot of seniors are college eligible and able to go, but then they get bogged down in the process, and so we want to make sure that we’re there as a support, so that we’re not losing any students,” said McMeekin.
Most West Campus graduates enroll immediately in a four-year college, though some choose community college first. More than one in five West Campus graduates in 2023 enrolled in a University of California campus within a year of finishing high school.
:Overcoming obstacles
There is a strong correlation between student poverty and college attendance.
For instance, there were 12 large high schools in the region where fewer than one in five 2023 graduates were classified by the state as socioeconomically disadvantaged. About 85% of graduates from those relatively wealthy schools quickly enrolled in college.
By comparison, nine large high schools in the region recorded more than four in five 2023 graduates as socioeconomically disadvantaged. Only 49% of graduates from those relatively poverty-stricken schools quickly enrolled in college.
Encina High is one of the schools bucking the trend.
Almost 60% of Encina’s class of 2023 quickly enrolled in college, up from a 40% college going rate in 2021, state data show.
Encina has revamped a class taken by all students, called “advocacy,” to emphasize the importance of college and college planning, said Encina Principal Greta Scholtes. Teachers consistently check student grades to talk them through what it takes to get into college.
The school also has a relatively new program called Standing for Advancement Via Individual Determination. It focuses heavily on first-time college students, encouraging them and others to think about taking advanced courses while developing organizational skills, Scholtes said.
Encina partners with several nonprofits that provide student mentoring and even some tutoring. Students also get the chance to visit college campuses and experience what college classes are like.
The school has leaned heavily into dual enrollment at local community colleges, as well.
“Kids are getting more and more excited about taking those courses, and feeling like they can be successful in a college courses is huge,” Scholtes said.
Looking ahead
McMeekin, Rodriguez and Scholtes said they expect college-going rates to continue to improve in the coming years.
Rodriguez said there is still room for Los Rios’ dual enrollment programs to grow. Dual enrollment classes, he said, can be a safer bet than Advanced Placement courses, which require students to pass a high stakes exam to earn college credit.
“I think as parents start to learn more about it and see the benefits over the AP system, that I think we’re going to keep going,” he said.
At the San Juan Unified School District, which includes Encina High, new graduation requirements are taking effect that more closely match requirements for attending a California college.
“Now that they have to take two years of world language, additional math courses, additional science, they’re better prepared,” said Kristan Schnepp, assistant superintendent for secondary education and programs at San Juan Unified.
In addition, a new state law provides automatic admission to most California State University campuses, including Sacramento State, if students meet baseline requirements.
“I think 100% of our students are meeting the CSU eligibility requirements and should be admitted to Sac State,” McMeekin said.
Phillip Reese is a regular contributor, writing Numbers Matter for Abridged.
Denis Akbari is a visual journalist with Abridged. Watch her explainer video on the numbers below.