The U.S. Department of Education recently released a 180-page report presenting data on educational attainment of people in various racial and ethnic groups in the nation. The report contains data on African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, American Indians and other ethnic groups. There are detailed tables on enrollments, educational achievement, retention, student behavior, degree attainments, and outcomes of education.
Some of the highlights from the section on postsecondary education are:
* The gender enrollment gap for Black students in higher education is wider than for any other racial or ethnic group.
* Some 85 percent of all Black students in U.S. higher education received some type of financial aid grant. This was the highest percentage of any racial or ethnic group.
* About 72 percent of Black students took out a student loan, again the highest rate among any racial or ethnic group.
* The percentage of African American students who entered college in 2008 and had earned a bachelor’s degree with in six years, was the lowest among all racial and ethnic groups.
* In 2014, the median annual earnings of Blacks with at least a bachelor’s degree was lower than the median annual earnings of similarly educated people from all other racial and ethnic groups.
The full report, Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2017, may be downloaded by clicking here.
