WASHINGTON
Black and Hispanic students are just as interested in careers in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields as White and Asian students, but the need to make money and other obstacles prevent them from earning their bachelor’s at the same rate as their peers, according to a new analysis conducted by the American Council on Education.
“Our analysis seems to dispel the commonly held belief that African-American and Hispanic students aren’t interested in majoring in STEM fields,” says Dr. Eugene L. Anderson, associate director of the Center for Policy Analysis at ACE and co-author of the report.
“We find that these students do pursue these majors and persist beyond the third year, but are not earning enough credits each year to attain a degree within six years,” Anderson says.
The ACE analysis identified a number of key differences between students who earned a bachelor’s in a STEM field and those who did not. Completers were better prepared for college because they came from highly rigorous high school programs. Nearly all completers were younger than 19 when they entered college, compared with 83.9 percent of non-completers. Also, completers were more likely to have at least one parent with a bachelor’s or higher. Completers came from families with higher incomes while non-completers were more likely to work 15 hours or more a week.
