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| Students demonstrate in front of the US Supreme Court. |
Edited from The Hechinger Report
Students’ race and ethnicity affect their chances of earning a college degree, according to several new reports on higher education released in January and February 2023. However, the picture that emerges depends on the lens you use. College degrees are increasing among all racial and ethnic groups, but white and Asian Americans are far more likely to hold a college degree or earn one than Black, Hispanic or Native Americans.
Earning a college degree involves two steps: starting college and finishing college. Before the pandemic, white, Black and Hispanic Americans were enrolling in college at about the same rates, especially when unemployment was high and jobs were hard to find. Asian American college enrollment rate was the highest among all ethnic groups.
READ the complete original article about higher ed data written by Jill Barshay and published by The Hechinger Report, which provided the portions included in this post.The bigger distinction is that once a student has started college, the likelihood of making it through the coursework and tuition payments and ultimately earning a degree varies so much by race and ethnicity.
There are two ways to look at this. One is to see how the demographic makeup of college campuses has changed over time, becoming less white and more Hispanic.
The pie charts below were produced in January by the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit organization that provides data reporting services to colleges. In conjunction with these services, it monitors trends in higher education by aggregating the data submitted by more than 3,600 institutions, representing 97% of the students at the nation’s degree-granting colleges and universities. Earlier this year, the organization launched a DEI Data Lab site to put a spotlight on how college enrollment, persistence and completion vary by race and ethnicity.
In 2011, as the pie chart on the left shows, more than 60%of the nation’s 20.6 million college students were white, according to an estimate by the National Student Clearinghouse. By 2020, the year represented by the piechart on the right, the total number of college students had fallen to 17.8 million and the share of white students had dropped by almost 9 percentage points to 52%, still a majority.
During the same period, Asian students increased from 5 to 7% of the college population. However, the share of Hispanic students grew from 14% to 21%, and the share of Black students remained constant at just under 14%. This represents all undergraduate college students, both younger students entering straight after high school and older nontraditional students, studying full-time and part-time, and attending both four-year universities and two-year colleges.
What surprised the author was the college enrollment largely mirrorred each racial and ethnic group’s share of the general US population – with a few caveats. Asian Americans are slightly overrepresented on college campuses and Hispanic Americans are slightly underrepresented.
Another way to look at college enrollment is to see how many young adults enroll in college.
The chart below, by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that the college enrollment rates for Asian Americans is 80%, the highest for all ethnic groups after the 2008 recession. Black and Hispanic young adults improved after the 2008 recession, and approached the college-going rate of white Americans. Roughly 60% of young Black, Hispanic and white Americans are trying for a college degree. The zigs and zags in this chart show how college going among Hispanic and Black Americans is influenced by business cycles.
Every race and ethnicity saw gains. The eight-percentage point gain was the same for both Black and white adults.
But racial gaps continue. In 2021, there remained an enormous 40 percentage point difference between Asian American adults, among whom 66% have a college degree, and Native American adults, among whom only 25% have a college degree. Among Black adults, 34% have college degrees. Among Hispanic adults, it’s 28% and among white adults, it’s 50%.
Improvements in college attainment can seem slow because graduation rates are much lower among Americans over 35. It takes years for higher college graduation rates among younger adults to raise overall college numbers. College attainment rates have jumped the fastest among young Hispanic adults under age 35, rising from below 20% in 2009 to above 30% in 2021.
But racial gaps continue. In 2021, there remained an enormous 40 percentage point difference between Asian American adults, among whom 66% have a college degree, and Native American adults, among whom only 25% have a college degree. Among Black adults, 34% have college degrees. Among Hispanic adults, it’s 28% and among white adults, it’s 50%.
Improvements in college attainment can seem slow because graduation rates are much lower among Americans over 35. It takes years for higher college graduation rates among younger adults to raise overall college numbers. College attainment rates have jumped the fastest among young Hispanic adults under age 35, rising from below 20% in 2009 to above 30% in 2021.
Courtney Brown, the chief data and research officer at Lumina, credits a variety of support programs, from tutoring to food pantries, and the convenience of online courses to explain why more young people are graduating, despite rising tuition costs. “Colleges are trying to serve students better,” said Brown. “Even the way they staff colleges, not all on getting enrollments but having more success coaches available and counselors helping students get to the finish line.”
Still, Brown acknowledges that it’s been difficult to make a dent in the stubborn gaps in college attainment between people of different races and ethnicities. “Unfortunately, everyone is increasing,” Brown said. “And so we are not seeing those gaps reduced.”
The reasons for why completion rates remain much lower for Black, Hispanic and Native American students are complex. These students are more likely to attend community colleges, which have lower funding per student and fewer support services. Many students weren’t adequately prepared in high schools to handle college-level coursework, especially in math.
A poll of Black college students by Gallup-Lumina, released on Feb. 9, found that 21% of Black students report feeling discriminated against frequently or occasionally at the college they are attending, and that 45% have considered dropping out in the past six months. Black students in bachelor’s programs are far more likely to juggle family and work responsibilities alongside their studies.
“Black students are encountering so much more discrimination, and they have multiple responsibilities that no other race or ethnicity really has,” said Lumina’s Brown. “A lot of it is that Black students are more likely to have children. Working full time, having children and trying to get a bachelor’s degree at the same time is just obviously overwhelming.”
Still, Brown acknowledges that it’s been difficult to make a dent in the stubborn gaps in college attainment between people of different races and ethnicities. “Unfortunately, everyone is increasing,” Brown said. “And so we are not seeing those gaps reduced.”
The reasons for why completion rates remain much lower for Black, Hispanic and Native American students are complex. These students are more likely to attend community colleges, which have lower funding per student and fewer support services. Many students weren’t adequately prepared in high schools to handle college-level coursework, especially in math.
A poll of Black college students by Gallup-Lumina, released on Feb. 9, found that 21% of Black students report feeling discriminated against frequently or occasionally at the college they are attending, and that 45% have considered dropping out in the past six months. Black students in bachelor’s programs are far more likely to juggle family and work responsibilities alongside their studies.
“Black students are encountering so much more discrimination, and they have multiple responsibilities that no other race or ethnicity really has,” said Lumina’s Brown. “A lot of it is that Black students are more likely to have children. Working full time, having children and trying to get a bachelor’s degree at the same time is just obviously overwhelming.”
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