Reductions in the median age at high school graduation and in the median age at college graduation were generally characteristic of the period 1950 to 1960, according to estimates made by the Bureau of the Census.

The median age at high school graduation dropped from 18.4 to 18.1 during the 1950-1960 decade. The decline was especially sharp for nonwhite males, for whom the median was 19.4 in 1950 and 18.6 in 1960. For all groups, the decline in average age at high school graduation seemed to reflect the decreasing tendency for some students to be retarded in school, that is, enrolled in a grade below that expected for their age.

The overall decline in median age at college graduation from 23.6 in 1950 to 22.9 in 1960 masked quite different patterns for men and women. The median dropped during the decade from 24.3 to 23.4 for white males and from 24.9 to 24.7 for nonwhite males. It was 22.1 in 1950 and 22.2 in 1960 for white females and went up from 22.5 in 1950 to 23.2 in 1960 for nonwhite females. These trends probably were due to several factors, some of them compensating ones—the older war veterans in college in 1950, but not in 1960; the changing average age at high school graduation; and the tendency for relatively more young persons (especially nonwhite women) to pursue a college degree, even if on a part-time or interrupted basis.