Explaining the Black-White Gap in College Attendance: Racial Differences versus Socioeconomic Determinants. Research Report

College enrollment rates of blacks have historically trailed those of whites, although the actual size of the racial gap has fluctuated in recent decades. Using logistic regression and a decomposition analysis, this study investigated the extent to which this college-going gap is due to racial dispa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Bennett, Pamela R, Xie, Yu
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.06.2000
Subjects
Black Students
College Attendance
College Bound Students
Enrollment
Higher Education
Racial Differences
Socioeconomic Status
Student Characteristics
White Students
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Summary:College enrollment rates of blacks have historically trailed those of whites, although the actual size of the racial gap has fluctuated in recent decades. Using logistic regression and a decomposition analysis, this study investigated the extent to which this college-going gap is due to racial disparities in socioeconomic family backgrounds, academic performance, and expectations and values about education. Sizable differences are found between blacks and whites in socioeconomic family background and academic performance, as well as interactions between race and these variables. However, expectations and values about education are similar between the groups and contribute little to racial disparities in college attendance. (Contains 2 figures, 4 tables, and 43 references.) (SLD)