While the United States has made progress in increasing postsecondary attainment, data trends show that there are still persisting inequalities in higher education opportunity, according to a new report from the Council for Opportunity in Education’s Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education and the University of Pennsylvania Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (PennAHEAD).
The organizations’ report explores six equity indicators and finds, among other trends, that in 2016 the average net price of college after grants and discounts was 94 percent of the average family income for students in the lowest income quartile; Pell Grants in 2017 only covered 25 percent of average education costs, compared to two-thirds in the mid-1970s; and that students who are both low-income and first generation have a 21 percent chance of earning a bachelor’s degree in six years compared to a 57 percent chance for non-low-income, non-first generation peers.
Report co-authors Dr. Margaret Cahalan and Dr. Laura W. Perna note that their report “2019 Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: Historical Trend Report” raises an opportunity for federal and state policymakers to implement policies and programs that improve outcomes for students, especially low-income, first-generation and students with disabilities.
“Once known for wide accessibility to and excellence within its higher education system, the U.S. now has an educational system that sorts students in ways that have profound implications for later life chances,” the co-authors said in the report. “More work is required to ensure that all youth have the opportunity to use their creative potential to realize the many benefits of higher education and advance the well-being and progress of the nation.”
The report is the fifth in a series that examines historical data to promote an equitable higher education system. It upholds what other education researchers have historically observed: family income, race, parental education and geographic location factor into what educational and career opportunities become available to students.
Among the findings is the fact that there are growing differences in college degree attainment rates across states, a point of concern that Cahalan, director of the Pell Institute and COE’s vice president for research, said stood out to her because “states are almost becoming stratified by education to some extent.”
Furthermore, the report calls attention to findings that detail nearly stagnant rates of enrollment for low-income students at the most selective institutions over the last 20 years, and findings that show higher degree attainment rates for wealthier students.
