Racial and Ethnic Representation in Postsecondary Education

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, they examine whether different racial and ethnic groups have equal access to higher education by looking at representativeness across postsecondary institutions. They 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.