1. Racial and Ethnic Representation in Postsecondary Education. Research Report
- Author
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Urban Institute, Monarrez, Tomas, and Washington, Kelia
- Abstract
The US population is becoming more educated, but large gaps in postsecondary attainment based on race or ethnicity remain, particularly at more selective colleges. As a growing number of jobs require a college degree, it is imperative to increase college access among all racial and ethnic groups. In this report, we examined whether different racial and ethnic groups have equal access to higher education by looking at representativeness across postsecondary institutions. We constructed a new measure that compares each college's racial and ethnic demographics with the demographics of the college's market, evaluating whether each racial or ethnic group is over- or underrepresented at individual colleges and college sectors, relative to that college's or sector's pool of potential students. We confirm the presence and persistence of large national gaps in representation and find that Black and Hispanic students are underrepresented at more selective schools in ways that cannot be explained by differences in community demographics.
- Published
- 2020