The Higher Educational Attainment of the Parents of Black and White Children in the United States Today

Probably one of the best indicators that a child will go to college is whether one or both of his or her parents attended college. Here blacks trail whites by a large margin.

For children ages 6 to 18, 31.7 percent of whites have a mother who has obtained a four-year college degree. For black children, 15.3 percent of their mothers have a bachelor’s degree.

When we look at the educational attainment of fathers, we find that 35.1 percent of white children have a father who has a four-year college degree. Only 17.3 percent of black children have a father who has completed college.

Nearly 9 percent of white children have a mother that holds a master’s degree compared to 4.7 percent of black children. More than 13 percent of white children have a father who has earned a graduate degree. Only 4.3 percent of black children have a father who holds a graduate degree.

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.