Big Gap in College Graduation Rates for Rich and Poor,
Study Finds
New Report from the University of Pennsylvania and the
Pell Institute for Study of Opportunity in Higher Education
College
completion rates are soaring among wealthy students, but there’s a disturbing
trend among students from low-income families.
By
MELISSA KORN
Updated
Feb. 3, 2015 7:53 p.m. ET
College
completion rates for wealthy students have soared in 40 years but barely budged
for low-income students, leading to a yawning gap in educational attainment
between rich and poor that could have long-lasting implications for the
socioeconomic divide.
In
2013, 77% of adults from families in the top income quartile earned at least
bachelor’s degrees by the time they turned 24, up from 40% in 1970, according
to a new report from the University of Pennsylvania’s Alliance for Higher
Education and Democracy and the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in
Higher Education. But 9% of people from the lowest income bracket did the same
in 2013, up from 6% in 1970.
“Education
is one of the levers that we have in place to address income inequality. It
offers the promise of achieving the American dream,” said Laura Perna,
executive director of the Penn program. Yet the study’s findings suggest that
“education isn’t fully living up to this promise.”
One
small sign of progress is that more poor students are enrolling in college than
they did 40 years ago. Forty-five percent of dependent 18- to 24-year-olds from
the lowest income quartile—with family income of $34,160 or less—enrolled in
college in 2012, up from 28% in 1970. While the college enrollment rate of the
highest-income students—with family income of $108,650 or more—also increased,
to 81% from 74%, the gap between the two did shrink.
Still,
most of the poor students who pursue college degrees fail to make it all the
way to graduation. About one in five college students from the lowest income
bracket completed a bachelor’s degree by age 24 in 2013, about flat with the
1970 figure. Among students from top-earning families, meanwhile, 99% of
students who enrolled completed their degrees, up from 55% in 1970.
College
access has been a major area of focus for the federal government and individual
schools, with such initiatives as free campus visits and application assistance
for low-income students. The Obama administration’s fiscal 2016 budget plan
calls for $860 million to fund its major college-readiness programs, as well as
more than $300 million for GEAR UP, which targets low-income students
specifically.
But
keeping poor students on track once they’re at college remains a challenge.
That’s due in part to academic issues, since those students’ high schools may
not have prepared them for the rigors of a college course load, as well as financial
ones.
Federal
Pell Grants, which are directed to the neediest students, have been covering a
smaller share of overall college costs in recent years. While the maximum
amount, $4,690, took care of more than half the bill for average tuition, room
and board in 1974, Pell funding has remained fairly flat. In 2012, the maximum
$5,550 award covered just 27% of those expenses.
While
the report focuses on college access and completion, one thing it doesn’t cover
is whether there would be jobs for those students if everyone actually got a
bachelor’s degree, said Neal McCluskey, associate director of the Center for
Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
“If
we were to get everybody through a bachelor’s degree, where in the workforce
would they be absorbed?” he asked, noting that many current college graduates
are already working in jobs that don’t require such degrees.
Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/big-gap-in-college-graduation-rates-for-rich-and-poor-study-finds-1422997677
