Press Release, AP, June 29, 2004
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/06/29/
census.education.ap/index.html The US Census Bureau recently released graduation statistics among America’s high school and college students. Among those 25 and older last year, 84.6 percent had graduated from high school, up from 84.1 percent the previous year. The share of people with at least a bachelor's degree from college also increased, from 26.7 percent to 27.2 percent, continuing a decade-long trend.
Less encouraging statistics show that there is continued disparity in graduation rates between White, Blacks, and Hispanics. More than 89 percent of Whites graduated from high school, compared with 80 percent of Blacks and 57 percent of Hispanics. This disparity has been persistent for as long as this data has been collected, but does appear to be lessening. In 1993, 84 percent of Whites were high school graduates, along with 70 percent of Blacks and 53 percent of Latinos.
Graduation rates have been often been linked to earning potential. The Census Bureau reports that comparably educated Whites still made slightly more money, with median earnings of $45,600, compared with $40,000 for Blacks and $37,000 for Hispanics. Again, this gap is also decreasing over time. Concerned policymakers are calling for measures to close the gap faster in upcoming years.
