New Data on the Racial Gap in Degree Attainments
The U.S. Department of Education has released preliminary statistics on the number of degrees earned at U.S. colleges and universities for the 2011-12 academic year. African Americans make up about 14 percent of all students enrolled in higher education but they are a far lower percentage of all degree earners.
The data shows that African Americans received 307,469 degrees from four-year institutions in the 2011-12 academic year. This was 10.1 percent of all degrees earned at these institutions. African Americans earned 8.8 percent of all four-year degrees at public institutions and 9.2 percent of all four-year degrees at private, not-for-profit colleges and universities. At private, for-profit degree-granting institutions, African Americans earned 19.2 percent of all degrees awarded.
At two-year colleges, African Americans received 83,147 degrees. This was 11.8 percent of all two-year degrees.
This sounds like parity to me. The percentage of African Americans receiving college degrees (14%) is equal to the population demographic (13%).
The 14 percent refers to enrollments. Only 10.1 percent of all degrees earned went to African Americans.