Graduating from high school has a profound effect on economic and social success for students in adulthood and the entire community. According to the measure established by the National Governors Association, in 2010 only 72.1 percent of high school students in Greenville County schools graduated within four years.

There is no single reason why students drop out of high school. Respondents report different reasons: a lack of connection to the school environment; a perception that school is boring; feeling unmotivated; academic challenges; inadequate responses to circumstances that lead to school drop out; teen pregnancy.

Students who graduate increase their chances for lifetime success and our entire community will benefit. Consider these statistics from the Alliance for Excellent Education:

• South Carolina households would have more than $1.3 billion in accumulated wealth if all heads of households had graduated from high school.
• South Carolina would save more than $320.1 million in health care costs over the course of the lifetimes of each class of dropouts had they earned their diplomas.
  
• South Carolina's economy would see a combination of savings and revenue of about $151 million in reduced crime spending and increased earnings each year if the male high school graduation rate increased by just 5 percent.
  

• Nearly 21,900 students did not graduate from South Carolina's high schools in 2009; the lost lifetime earnings in South Carolina for that class of dropouts alone totals nearly $5.7 billion.

United Way High School Graduation Initiatives

Building Opportunities in Out-of-School Time (BOOST)

BOOST is a new, innovative program working to implement Greenville County's Afterschool Strategic Plan. BOOST will work to build a strong network of out-of-school time providers, increase their capacity to deliver high-quality services, and ensure parents and youth have access to these services.