204. Unstack the Odds--Set at Birth? Part 3

Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!

by

Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Are the odds being stacked at birth against some kids going to college and graduating?

According to the 2009 Education Trust report, data on students from low-income families and underrepresented minorities at Access to Success Initiative (A2S) universities included in the various state systems of higher education systems were telling:
“Only 26 percent of the students who earned bachelor’s degrees within six years in A2S systems came from low-income families, compared with 41 percent of 18-24 year-old high school graduates in these states. Only 22 percent of students who earned bachelor’s degrees within six years were underrepresented minorities, compared with 35 percent of 18-24 year-old high school graduates.” (Jennifer Engle and Mary Lynch, Charting a Necessary Path: The Baseline Report of the Access to Success Initiative, The Education Trust, December 2009, p. 7.) http://www.edtrust.org/sites/edtrust.org/files/publications/files/A2S_BaselineReport_0.pdf

Dr. Bridget Terry Long, professor of economics and education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and consultant Erin Riley highlighted the correlates of family income and race with matriculation and graduation. As they summarized the data:
“Unfortunately, the likelihood of attending college varies substantially by family income. Among high school graduates in 2004, only 43 percent of students from families who made less than $30,000 immediately entered a postsecondary institution. In contrast, 75 percent of students from families who made more than $50,000 did so. Even after accounting for differences in academic preparation and achievement, substantial gaps in college access still exist by income level. Low-income high school graduates in the top academic quartile attended college only at the same rate as high-income high school graduates in the bottom quartile of achievement (Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance [ACSFA], 2001 in Bridget Terry Long and Erin Riley, “Financial Aid: A Broken Bridge to College Access?” Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 77 No. 1, Spring 2007, pp. 40. http://www.hepg.org/document/19/

Focusing on the difference in graduation rates for students from different income and racial groups, Long and Riley cited these statistics: “For those who matriculate, the likelihood of persisting to a college degree also differs greatly by income. Only 36 percent of low-income students who were college qualified completed a bachelor’s degree within eight years, while 81 percent of high-income students did so (Adelman, 2006). Stark differences also exist by race. Graduation rates at four-year institutions among first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates were highest for Asian/Pacific Islander students (65%), followed by White, non-Hispanic students (58%), for cohorts entering in the fall of 1998. Black and Hispanic students in this cohort graduated at much lower rates (40% and 46%, respectively)” (Knapp, Kelly-Reid, & Whitmore, 2006 in Ibid.)

As Kevin Carey stated in a 2005 report for the Education Trust, “While less
than 57 percent of new students at four-year campuses get a degree from their first institution within six years, the graduation rate is below 50 percent for African-American and Latino students. These are the most academically prepared minority students our education system produces, and yet when they go to college, they are not likely to get their degree on time [emphasis added].” (One Step from the Finish Line: Higher College Graduation Rates are Within Our Reach, The Education Trust, January 2005, p. 2.) http://www.edtrust.org/sites/edtrust.org/files/publications/files/one_step_from.pdf

The singer and philanthropist John Legend put this issue starkly in his recent blog post:
“. . . I consider the education 'achievement gap' between those students who are receiving a quality education and those who are not the civil rights issue of our time. It is fundamentally unfair that Americans' educational opportunities are so heavily influenced by the conditions outside of their control.” (John Legend, “Education Reform: The Civil Rights Issue of Our Time,” The Huffington Post, January 18, 2010.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-legend/education-reform-the-civi_b_426490.html

In his now classic book, writer Jonathan Kozol opined that “Poor people do not need to be reminded that the contest is unfair.” He quoted Elizabeth, “. . . a friend of mine who lives in a black neighborhood of Boston as saying ‘My children know very well the system is unfair. . . . They see it as a message: ‘This is to tell you that you don’t much matter.” (Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools, New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1991, pp. 178-179.)

203. Unstack the Odds--Set at Birth? Part 2

Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!
by
Joe Rottenborn

Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)

1. Are the odds being stacked at birth against some kids going to college and graduating?

According to the American Council on Education (ACE), the rates of degree attainment vary widely according to the racial and ethnic category of students. As stated in its Minorities in Higher Education: 2009 Supplement:
“As of 2007, 27.4 percent of young Americans aged 25 to 29 had obtained at least a bachelor’s degree, and an additional 8.1 percent had earned an associate degree. . . . These average rates conceal large disparities among subgroups. Asian Americans aged 25 to 29 are at the top, with 58 percent holding a bachelor’s degree, followed by whites (33 percent), African Americans (17 percent), Hispanics (11 percent) and finally, American Indians (9 percent). These large gaps are unlikely to change without reducing disparities at each transition point in the educational pipeline.” (Mikyung Ryu, Minorities in Higher Education: 2009 Supplement--Twenty-Third Status Report, American Council on Education, September 2009, p. 1.) http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=CAREE&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=34214

Furthermore, a gender gap is also evident in the matriculation data; simply put, women are more likely to enroll in college than are men. And this gender gap varies by racial and ethnic classification. Per the ACE 2009 Supplement, “As with high school completion, gender gaps widened in college enrollment rates. The proportion of young women enrolled in college
increased from 30 percent to 45 percent between 1988 and 2007, an increase twice as large as for young men (30 percent to 37 percent). Of all racial/ethnic groups, African Americans and Hispanics showed the largest gender gap in college enrollment rates.” (Ibid., p. 2.)

As Kevin Carey, policy director of the nonprofit Education Sector, stated in a recent posting, "All in all, this confirms what we already knew: College works well for the kind of student who has been going to college for a long time: white middle- and upper-class children of college graduates who enroll full-time directly after leaving high school." (“College Grad Rates Stay Exactly the Same,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 2, 2010.) http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/college-grad-rates-stay-exactly-the-same/29394)

By contrast, data on underrepresented U.S. students—including those of low income and minorities—continue to demonstrate their difficulty in going to college and in graduating. Indeed, Martin Haberman quoted Loeb (1999) as stating “If you’re in the top economic quarter of the population, your children have a 76% chance of getting through college and graduating by age 24. . . . If you’re in the bottom quarter, however, the figure is 4%.” (“Urban Education: The State of Urban Schooling at the Start of 21st Century,” 7/12/2010.) http://www.educationnews.org/ed_reports/104105.html).

As for minorities, in the state of California among community college matriculants, Joanne Jacobs posted that “only 26% of black students and 22% of Latino students had completed a degree or certificate or transferred after six years, compared to 37% of whites and 35% of Asian Pacific Islanders.” In her view, “Students fail because they're not prepared for college-level reading, writing and math. Many are juggling jobs and family responsibilities too, of course, but college readiness is the make-or-break issue." (“Unready and Unsuccessful,” The Huffington Post, October 29, 2010.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-jacobs/unready-and-unsuccessful_b_775668.html)

Even among matriculants to colleges and universities, a graduation gap exists by race. In a posting on The Hechinger Report, Sarah Butrymowicz pointed out this information:
“But a study released last summer by the Washington D.C.-based Education Trust, which analyzed data from 456 colleges and universities, found a disturbing gap in graduation rates when disaggregated by race. At private institutions, 73.4 percent of white students earned their degrees within six years, while only 54.7 percent of black students and 62.9 percent of Hispanic students made it through the schools they started.” (“Can universities keep the minority students they woo? The Hechinger Report, February 23, 2011.) http://hechingerreport.org/content/can-universities-keep-the-minority-students-they-woo_5239/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HechingerReport+%28Hechinger+Report%29