Separate and unequal: how higher education reinforces the intergenerational reproduction of white racial privilege

This report analyses enrollment trends at 4,400 postsecondary institutions by race and institutional selectivity over the past 15 years. Since 1995, 82 per cent of new white enrollments have gone to the 468 most selective colleges, while 72 per cent of new Hispanic enrollment and 68 per cent of new African-American enrollment have gone to the two-year open-access schools. These separate higher education pathways matter because resources matter. The selective colleges spend anywhere from two to almost five times as much on instruction per student as the open-access colleges. Even among equally qualified white, African-American and Hispanic students, these pathways are not only separate but they bring unequal results. More than 30 per cent of African-Americans and Hispanics with a high school grade point average (GPA) higher than 3.5 go to community colleges compared with 22 per cent of whites with the same GPA.

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