Racial Differences in the Age of Undergraduate College Students

New data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that African-American students who are enrolled in college are on average two years older than their white counterparts. The average age of a black undergraduate student is 28. For whites, the average age is 26. The median age of an African-American college student is 24 years. That means that half of all black students are older than 24 and half are younger than 24. For whites, the median age is 22 years.

Nearly 60 percent of all white students enrolled as undergraduates are 23 years or younger. For blacks, only 45.5 percent of all undergraduates are under the age of 24.

At the other end of the age spectrum, nearly 45 percent of black undergraduates are over the age of 30. For whites, 25 percent of all undergraduate students are over the age of 30. Fifteen percent of black undergraduates are over 40 years of age compared to 12.6 percent of white undergraduates.

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