Dire Disparities: Patterns of Racially Inequitable Funding and Student Success in Public Postsecondary Education

College plays a critical role in providing opportunities for economic mobility, yet degree attainment by race is inequitable. Currently, more than half of young white adults hold at least a two-year college degree, compared to 37 percent of Black young adults. Less than a third of Hispanic, American Indian, and Hawaiian or Pacific Islander young adults have at least a two-year college degree. Underrepresented students of color disproportionately attend public colleges and universities that have less money to spend supporting them, and where success rates are low. Community colleges serve the highest shares of underrepresented students of color and have just a fraction of the state support and tuition revenue available to other colleges. This report examines how changes in core education revenue (state and local appropriations, and tuition) between 2006 and 2016 -- the years during and following the Great Recession -- impact disparities in resources across public colleges and universities and the underrepresented students of color who enroll in them. [This report received key project support from Debbie Cochrane and Veronica Gonzalez.]