The Racial Gap in College Participation Rates
Filed in Enrollments on September 23, 2013
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a significant racial gap in the number of high school graduates who go on to college. For students who graduated from high school in 2012, nearly 67 percent of Whites were enrolled in college by October 2012. For Black high school graduates in 2012, only 57.1 percent were enrolled in college the next fall.
Some 36.8 percent of White high school graduates in 2012 had enrolled in a four-year college by October 2012. For their African American counterparts, 31.8 percent were enrolled in a four-year college.
Some 37 percent of African American women who graduated from high school in 2012 had enrolled in a four-year college by last October. For Black men, the college participation rate at four-year institutions was 26.9 percent.
