A new report from the U.S. Department of Education looks at students who were in ninth grade in 2009 and follows their progress through higher education. Some of the data is broken down by race or ethnic group.
The report found that for those ninth graders in 2009 who later enrolled in higher education, 57.3 percent of Black students took at least one remedial course in college. Slightly more than a third of White students took a remedial course.
Whites had an average grade point average in college of 2.8, compared to 2.2 for Blacks who went on to college.
Nearly 93 percent of White students and 88 percent of Black students took at least one course in STEM fields in college. Whites earned an average of 20.8 credits in STEM fields compared to 13.2 credits in STEM fields for Blacks. In STEM fields, Whites posted a grade point average of 2.6. For Blacks, their grade point average in STEM fields was 1.8.
Nearly 80 percent of Black students received some type of need-based aid to help pay for college, compared to 49.3 percent of Whites. A quarter of Black students received merit-based aid, compared to 34.6 percent of Whites.
More than 57 percent of Blacks took out student loans to help pay for college, compared to 46.6 percent of Whites. And the average amount of debt was higher for Blacks than it was for Whites.
The full report, High School Longitudinal Study of 2009: A First Look at the Postsecondary Transcripts and Student Financial Aid Records of Fall 2009 Ninth-Graders, may be downloaded by clicking here.
