Increasing Access to College: Extending Possibilities for All Students

4. Meeting Common Goals: Linking K–12 and College Interventions

81 C H A P T E R 4 Meeting Common Goals Linking K–12 and College Interventions PATRICIA GÁNDARA For the last several decades there has been widespread consensus that something is wrong with the pipeline that leads to and through higher education for minority students. Nationwide, 93.6 percent of caucasian students in the 25–29-year-old category had received a high school diploma or GED certificate in 1998. However, this figure was only 88.2 percent for African Americans, and 62.8 percent for Latinos. In spite of the discrepancies among ethnic groups, this represents considerable progress over a period of three decades. In 1971, 81.7 percent of Whites held a diploma or GED, but only 58.8 percent of Blacks and 48.3 percent of Latinos had achieved this educational goal. (See Table 4.1.) College attendance has increased dramatically over the last three decades as well—from 6.9 million students in 1967 to 14.3 million in 1997 (NCES, 1999). Nonetheless, the gaps in access to higher education among students of different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups are large. African American, Latino, and Native American students begin school behind their White and Asian classmates, and this gap continues to grow throughout their years of schooling (NCES, 2000a; 2000b), resulting in relatively small percentages of Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans going on to four-year colleges, and fewer still represented among college graduates. For example, African Americans were only 11 percent of all college students in 1997–1998 while they comprised 14.3 percent of the college-age population, and Latinos held only 8.6 percent of the seats in higher education institutions, although they comprised a similar percentage (14.4) of the college-age population. Moreover, students who go directly to four-year colleges are significantly more likely to complete their degrees than those who matriculate into two-year colleges initially (Rendon & Garza, 1996). 82 PATRICIA GÁNDARA However, Latino students, in particular, are much more likely to attend two-year colleges than other groups. (See Table 4.2.) College enrollment rates also vary by family income and parents’ level of education. Among high-income students, 77 percent enroll in four-year college or university within two years of graduation, compared with only 33 percent low-income students. Likewise, 71 percent of students whose parents are college graduates enroll in a four-year college or university, compared with only 26 percent of students whose parents have no more than a high school diploma (Perna & Swail, 1998). Only 17.9 percent of African Americans and 16.5 percent of Latinos had obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998, compared to 34.5 percent of White individuals (NCES, 1999). Thus, while both African Americans and Latinos have been closing the enormous gap that divided them from Whites with respect to high school completion three decades earlier, White students are still twice as likely to complete a college degree as either Blacks or Latinos. This very large difference in academic attainment spells significant differences in lifetime opportunity and well-being. In a study of the costs and benefits of closing the education gap for minorities, Vernez (1999) found that the public benefit gained from increased education outweighs its costs in all cases. For example, if Blacks and Latinos were educated at the same level as Whites, every additional dollar spent on TABLE 4.1 Percent 25–29-year-olds Completing High School or GED by Ethnicity, 1971 and 1998 Ethnic Group 1971 1998 White 81.7 93.6 Black 58.8 88.2 Latino 48.3 62.8 Source: National Center for Education Statistics, 2000 TABLE 4.2 College Enrollment by Ethnicity, 1997–1998 Percent of Percent of total Percent of 2-year Percent of 4-year 18–24-year- college college college olds enrollment enrollment enrollment White 66.3 73.2 68.2 76.3 Black 14.3 11.0 11.8 10.5 Hispanic* 14.4 8.6 12.5 6.2 Asian 3.9 6.1 6.2 6.1 Native Am 1.0 .9 1.3 .8 * Includes Hispanics of all racial groups Source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Population Tables Meeting Common Goals 83 education would save the state about $1.90. About one-third of this savings would come from public expenditures and two-thirds from...