College enrollment rates are dropping, especially among low-income students

(from the Washington Post):

By Emma Brown

Low-income high school graduates were far less likely to enroll in higher education in 2013 than in 2008, a downward trend that came at the same time the Obama administration was pushing to boost college access and completion, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data.

College enrollment rates have fallen for all students since 2008, which is not surprising given that the economy has improved since then and therefore more young people can find jobs right out of high school. But the enrollment rates among the poorest students has fallen much faster, according to the analysis, which is slated to publish in a forthcoming edition of the Presidency, a publication of the American Council on Education.

According to an annual Census Bureau survey, overall college enrollment rates dropped three percentage points between 2008 and 2013, from 69 percent to 66 percent.

But college enrollment among the poorest high school graduates — defined as those from the bottom 20 percent of family incomes — dropped 10 percentage points during the same time period, the largest sustained drop in four decades, according to the analysis. In 2013, just 46 percent of low-income high school graduates enrolled in two-year and four-year institutions, according to the data. CONTINUE READING HERE

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On January 6 the Texas Public Policy Foundation will host a panel on higher education’s rising low-income majority at its annual Policy Orientation for the Texas Legislature. The panel, moderated by SeeThruEdu editor-in-chief Tom Lindsay, will feature Jorge Klor de Alva of the Nexus Research and Policy Center, Texas State Representative Armando Martinez, and SeeThruEdu’s own Ron Trowbridge. Register for Policy Orientation 2016 today!