New data from the National Science Foundation shows significant racial differences in how students support their doctoral education. According to data on students who earned doctoral degrees in 2012, nearly 40 percent of African American doctoral recipients funded their education through their own resources. Only 21.3 percent of Whites funded their doctoral education primarily through their own resources.
In turn, only 10.9 percent of African American doctoral degree recipients funded their education through teaching assistantships. For Whites, nearly 21 percent had teaching assistantships which were the primary source of their educational funding. Another 24 percent of White doctoral recipients funded their education through research assistantships compared to 13 percent of African American doctoral recipients.
