Separate &

Unequal:How Higher Education Reinforces the

Intergenerational Reproduction of White

Racial Privilege

Anthony P. Carnevale and Jeff Strohl

July 31, 2013

Overview

• Despite increasing access to college for minorities, there are two separate postsecondary pathways: one for whites and another for Hispanics and African Americans.

• The postsecondary system magnifies and projects inequality into the labor market and society at large.

Postsecondary EnrollmentBetween 1995 and 2009, new freshman enrollments at postsecondary institutionsgrew by 107 % for Hispanics, 73 % for African Americans, and 15 % for whites.

Elite College Enrollment

• White overrepresentation in the nation’s most elite-top 468 colleges is increasing, even as the white share of college-age students has declined

• Enrollment at these colleges were:

– 82% White

– 13% Hispanic

– 9% African Americans

Open Access College Enrollment• Open-access two- and four-year colleges had a larger

freshman enrollment among minority students

– 68% African American

– 72% Hispanic

Advantages

• The most selective schools have:

– Greater financial resources

– Higher completion rates

– Higher rates of graduate school enrollment and advanced degree attainment

– Higher future earnings

Greater Financial Resources 82 of the most selective schools spend almost five times as much on instruction as open-access two- and four-year colleges

Higher Completion Rates

• The 468 most selective colleges’ completion rate is 82%

• Open-access two and four- year colleges have a 49% completion rate

Cont.

• Even among equally qualified students with good SAT scores, the 468 most selective four-year colleges have substantially higher completion rates

Cont.

• Among high-scoring college students only 36% Hispanics and 37% African American complete a BA or higher compared to 57% Whites

Advanced Degree Attainment

• Students who graduate from selective colleges are more likely to earn a graduate degree which leads to higher earnings

Higher Earnings• Graduates from the 468 most selective colleges earn $67K annually 10

years after graduating, compared to $49K annually for graduates of the open-access two- and four-year colleges

Cont.• Workers with professional degree earned 2.1M more over a lifetime than

workers who dropped out of college

Conclusion

• Racial inequality in the educational system, paired with low social and economic mobility in the United States, produces enormous differences in educational outcomes

• Latinos and African Americans are seeing unequal results from postsecondary education pathways

For more information:

See the full report and executive summary on https://cew.georgetown.edu/report/separate-unequal/

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