Racial Differences in College Financial Aid Awards

New data from the U.S. Department of Education offers a comprehensive view of the financial aid situation for African-American college students across the nation. The data shows that in 2004, 75.8 percent of all African-American students enrolled in college received some type of financial aid. White students, too, are heavily dependent on financial aid. More than three out of every five white students enrolled in higher education, or 61.5 percent, receives some amount of financial assistance.

The federal data shows that 64.3 percent of all African-American students enrolled in college receive some level of scholarship grant or financial aid that does not have to be paid back. For whites, the figure is 47.8 percent.

In 2004, 43.1 percent of all black undergraduate students took out a student loan to help pay for their education. More than a third of white undergraduate students also took out loans to pay for college.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.