Majority of La Crosse high school graduates head to college, according to study

Less than 10 percent immediately enter workforce

The majority of high school graduates in La Crosse apparently continue a formal education.

National Student Clearinghouse released data that states 65 percent of graduates in the area move on to two- or four-year school.

Troy Harcey, the La Crosse schools director of instruction, said their previous method of tracking students, senior surveys, wasn’t as effective.

“Things happen over the summer and their intention,” Harcey said, “when they take that high school graduation survey, and then how that translates into not attending a campus in the fall, 

are things that the future centers are helping dig down and look at.”

Harcey added that, although 65 percent may seem low, 8 percent goes into the workforce immediately after graduation, and others go into the military.

Harvey added that, even though some aren’t continuing formal education, they’re likely still studying.

“A lot of times,” Harcey said, “what you hear with that research, is if there’s technical reading to go along with that, sometimes that technical reading in the first year of a job market is more rigorous than freshman courses.”

With numbers starting in 2008, Western Technical College is getting more than double the La Crosse students than any other college. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was second.