By Selena Cardona
A recent report, Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States, represents an ongoing collaboration between the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education of the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) and the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania (PennAHEAD). The purpose of this report is to highlight the status of higher education equity in the United States, identify changes over time in measures of equity, identify policies and practices that promote and hinder progress, and emphasize the need for increased support of policies, programs, and practices that improve higher education attainment outcomes and create equity. The report presents data from as far back as comparable data permits, often reaching as far back as 1970.
Among the findings:
- While 42% of all college students received Pell or other federal grants, only 16% of students that attend the most selective schools receive these grants. About two-thirds of the students at for-profit institutions receive Pell or other federal grants (Equity Indicator 2e).
- Among 9th graders who graduated high school in 2013, those who were in the highest socioeconomic quintile were eight times as likely to attend a most selective or highly selective institution than their peers from the lower quintile (Equity Indicator 2f).
- The amount of college costs that the Pell Grant is able to cover has decreased since the 1970s. In the mid-1970s Pell Grants covered two-thirds of the average cost associated with attending college. By 2017, the maximum amount the Pell covered was 25% of average costs (Equity Indicator 3b(ii)).
- The portion of college costs that families are responsible for has increased. In the year 2017, parents and students were responsible for 48% of higher expenditures compared to 33% from the years 1975 to 1981.
- The average family income that is needed to cover the net cost of college has increased. In 2016, the average net price of college (after grants and discounts) was 94% of the average family income for dependent students in the lowest income quartile; while it was 14% of the average family income for students in the highest income quartile. In 1990, the average net price was 45% of family income for dependent students in the lowest income quartile while in the same year, the average net price was 10% for the highest income quartile (Equity Indicator 4b(ii)).
- Since 1990, more and more students have been borrowing money in order to cover their college expenses. In the 1990s over half of bachelor’s degree recipients borrowed and by 2016, 70% of students borrowed.
- The average amount of debt has risen from $25,050 in 2000 to $30,460 in 2016 (Equity Indicator 4c). In 2016, Black borrowers had the highest amount of both borrowing rates and average amount borrowed at 85% and $34,000 respectively (Equity Indicator 4d).
- In the year 2017, estimated bachelor’s degree attainment rates for students by the age of 24 were more than four times higher for students who were dependent and in the highest income quartile than for those who are in the lowest income quartile (rates of 62% v. 13%). (Equity Indicator 5a(i)).
- Students who enter college and are both low income and first generation have a 21% chance of earning their bachelor’s degree in six years compared to their peers who are not low-income or first generation who have a 51% chance of earning their bachelor’s degree in six years (Equity Indicator 5c(ii)).
- Overall, these shifts in trends occurred during a time when 37% of Black families and 33% of Hispanic families had negative wealth (owing more than they owned) compared with 16% of white families.
