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Separate & Unequal

How Higher Education Reinforces the Intergenerational Reproduction of White Racial Privilege

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The higher education system is more and more complicit as a passive agent in the systematic reproduction of white racial privilege across generations. Separate & Unequal: How Higher Education Reinforces the Intergenerational Reproduction of White Racial Privilege analyzes enrollment trends at 4,400 postsecondary institutions by race and institutional selectivity over the past 15 years.

Key Findings

1

Since 1995, 82 percent of new white student enrollments have gone to the 468 most selective colleges, while enrollments for Hispanic/Latino (72%) and Black/African American students (68%) have gone to two-year and four-year open-access schools.
2

The selective colleges spend anywhere from two to almost five times as much on instruction per student as the open-access colleges.
3

More than 30 percent of Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino students with a high school GPA higher than 3.5 go to community colleges compared to 22 percent of white students with the same GPA.
4

Even among equally qualified white, Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino students, these pathways are not only separate but they bring unequal results.

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In this report, we find that every year we continue to produce college-qualified African American and Hispanic students who donโ€™t get college degrees.

Since 1995, 82 percent of new white enrollments have gone to theย 468 most selective colleges,* while 72 percent of new Hispanic enrollment and 68 percent of new African-American enrollment have gone to the two-year open-access schools.

*For this study, we use Barronโ€™s Education Series, College Division. 2009 Barronโ€™s Profiles of American Colleges. Hauppauge, NY: Barronโ€™s Educational Series, 2008. A shortlist of the 468 most selective colleges is availableย here. For a full list, please consultย Barronโ€™s Profiles of American Colleges.

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