Report: 80% of Asian American high school graduates go to college

Students demonstrate in front of the US Supreme Court.

Edited from The Hechinger Report

College degrees are increasing among all racial and ethnic groups in the US but racial gaps continue to exist. Asian Americans and Whites are far more likely to hold a college degree or earn one than Black, Hispanic or Native Americans, according to an article published in 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. 

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.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

College is proving to be dangerous for Asian Americans

ASAM NEWS &
VIEWS FROM THE EDGE

For Asian Americans, going to college is more than just books and lectures -- as it should be -- but recent incidents at university campuses show they must also learn to fight off acts of violence.

One of the attacks that occurred two weeks ago resulted in the strangulation and death of 19-year-old Ruth George, an Indian American who originally came from Hyderabad in India and a student at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Her assailant, Donald Thurman, faces charges of first degree murder and sexual assault. He was denied bail after he confessed to the attack.

“The defendant was angry that he was being ignored. The defendant came up behind the victim, grabbed her around the neck from behind, and put her into a choke hold,” said Cook County Asst. State’s Attorney James Murphy. “With his arms still wrapped around the victim’s neck the defendant dragged the victim from the ground and he opened her back seat car door.”

Roomate wanted to kill 'all Asians' at Iowa State

University police at Iowa State this week arrested a student accused of threatening to kill his roommate and all Asians, reports the Des Moines Register.

Kyle Francis Haney, 22, faces charges of first degree harassment and fourth degree criminal mischief.

“(It was reported that the) Defendant was kicking the door, and screaming ‘I will kill you,’ ” says a criminal complaint written by university police. “I arrived and Defendant answered the door. Defendant appeared to be very intoxicated.”

After being taken to jail, the complaint states he continued to maintain he wanted to “kill every Asian.”

His roommate, who was not identified, told police he took the threats seriously.

The incident happened at an apartment complex near the university. Prosecutors say they are considering filing hate crime charges. The suspect is out on bond, but has been barred from having any contact with his roommate.

Haney was described as intoxicated and told police he had consumed two malt drinks.

Students suspended for racist attacks at Syracuse U.

Meanwhile, four students have been suspended and one arrested following a series of racist episodes at Syracuse University in New York, reports People.

Two of the incidents used language “derogatory to African Americans,” while the other attacked Asian American and Native American students.

USA Today reports the Syracuse Police Department arrested Kym McGowan, 18, on accusations of fourth degree criminal mischief and graffiti.

In all, the campus paper says there have been 11 racist incidents since November 7.

Students have staged sit ins in protest of what they say has been the university’s inadequate response. Since then, the chancellor has signed on to a list of demands made by the students.

“They want to feel like the university actually cares about their safety and making them feel welcome on campus,” Casey Darnell, editor of the Daily Orange told NPR. “They want mandatory diversity training for faculty and staff. They want stricter consequences for hate speech and actions like racist graffiti. And they want diversity and inclusion to be more than just buzzwords.”

“In response to real concerns raised by members of our community, the leadership team and I have worked in good faith – to support the thoughtful, forward-thinking and constructive solutions offered by many of our students,” Syracuse Chancellor Ken Syverud said.

Arrest made in feces attack at University of Toronto

Toronto, which prides itself in being the most diverse city in North America, tries to maintain that reputation by denying any racial animosity despite the fact that in five separate incidents, all the victims have been Asian.

Toronto police have arrested a 23-year-old man accused of throwing liquid fecal matter on his victims, reports CP24.

All the victims appear to be Asian, but authorities don’t think this was racially motivated.

“(The victims) were Asian, however, we don’t think that might be the connection because we have different parts of Asia in there. We have some from the west side, some from the east side,” Const. Victor Kwong said to CP24.

According to the Daily Mail, the attacks on five people occurred in three separate incidents over four days.

The newspaper reported all three incidents happened on university campuses-two in libraries. The first happened at the John P. Robarts Research Library on the University of Toronto last Friday (Nov. 22). The suspect allegedly walked over to two people sitting at the table and dumped the substance on top of them.

In the next attack Sunday, a man entered into the the Scott Library on the York University’s Keele campus and assaulted a woman and man.

The latest incident occurred at the University of Toronto outside a building.

“Great work by Toronto Police arresting an individual in the “feces attacks” investigation. He can’t face justice or be given help until apprehended and it seems our police have that in hand. I hope this arrest will help calm concern on campuses and across the city,” tweeted Toronto Mayor John Tory.

No one is certain why there appears to be a rise of attacks on students of color.

“You definitely feel insecure if you are a person of color, or if you are someone who has been attacked by these,” said Shiv Das, a Syracuse graduate student from India.

Some attribute the guarded atmosphere to the apparent hostility of the Trump administration towards immigrants and the increasing boldness of white supremacists to express their feelings of being replaced or loss of social and economicc stature in the growing diversity of the North American society.

College campuses are just a reflection of the what's going on in rest of society -- the shootings in El Paso, Gilroy and Dayton attest to that -- including government.

“What’s really important for the government to do, first of all, is to stop espousing rhetoric that strikes chords with people who are afraid of immigrants,” a former white supremacist, Arno Michaelis, said in an appearance on Hill.TV on Tuesday.

"There has to be some responsibility in that regard," he added.

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