Life After High School: Economic Opportunities and Postsecondary Education Among New Orleans Youth

May 2024

High school graduation is a pivotal time in the lives of young people. The choices made at this juncture greatly impact the direction of the rest of a person’s life.

In 2019, the Cowen Institute released the first Life After High School report and website, with the aim to explore the lives of young people aged 16-24 in New Orleans by examining their education and employment pathways.

In the years since, we have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly disrupted the lives of young people both in New Orleans and across the country. Students were forced to engage in distance and virtual learning, which a growing body of research has shown negatively impacted their academic performance and mental health. Building off our previous reports, this updated Life After High School 2024 report examines the economic and educational realities facing young New Orleanians whose high years were shaped by the pandemic.

You can read the full virtual report at cowendata.org.