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Low-Income and Minority Students Are Growing Share of Enrollments, and 2 Other Takeaways From New Study

By  Zipporah Osei
May 22, 2019

A growing number of undergraduates come from low-income families, especially at less-selective colleges, according to a new analysis by the Pew Research Center.

Using data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study — which was last updated in 2016 — the Pew researchers found that community colleges and the least-selective four-year colleges have seen the greatest rise in poor and minority students. The most selective, private four-year institutions have not seen as much of an increase, according to a report by the researchers.

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A growing number of undergraduates come from low-income families, especially at less-selective colleges, according to a new analysis by the Pew Research Center.

Using data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study — which was last updated in 2016 — the Pew researchers found that community colleges and the least-selective four-year colleges have seen the greatest rise in poor and minority students. The most selective, private four-year institutions have not seen as much of an increase, according to a report by the researchers.

The report, released on Wednesday, places the fast-changing demographics of higher education in sharp relief. Here are three key takeaways:

1. More low-income students may be going to college, but they aren’t attending selective institutions.

While poverty among 18-to-64-year-olds has remained relatively flat in the past two decades, the share of undergraduates who were impoverished has increased from 12 percent to 20 percent. That may help explain why their enrollment growth isn’t reflected across all institution types. Most low-income students are flocking to the least-selective colleges.

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2. More nonwhite undergraduates are attending college across the board.

As the total nonwhite population increases in the United States, the percentage of racial and ethnic minorities is expanding at public and private nonprofit colleges as well as for-profit colleges. Over all the share of nonwhite students at all institutions has grown from 29 percent in 1996 to 47 percent in 2016.

The most drastic increases have been at less-selective institutions. The share of nonwhite undergraduates at community colleges and public four-year institutions grew by 19 percentage points from 1996 to 2016, while private, nonprofit four-year colleges saw a rise of only 10 percentage points.

Much of this demographic change is being driven by the increase in the share of Hispanic enrollments, which have doubled at four-year colleges since 1996.

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3. Low-income students are just as likely to take out student loans as are other undergraduates.

Nowadays 39 percent of undergraduates borrow to attend college, up from 26 percent in 1996. The chances that students will borrow grow if they attend a four-year institution rather than a community college, but borrowing has increased by 10 percentage points among community-college students as well.

Twenty years ago, however, low-income students were more likely to take out student loans than higher-income students were. That divide is rapidly closing. Thirty-eight percent of low-income students took out loans in 2016, the same as for middle-income students. The percentage of higher-income students who borrowed was just slightly lower, at 30 percent.

The report also found that undergraduates are less likely to work while enrolled than they were over a decade ago, and the share of students working full time has also declined significantly, from 38 percent in 2000 to 25 percent in 2016.

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Zipporah Osei is an editorial intern at The Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter @zipporahosei, or email her at zipporah.osei@chronicle.com.

A version of this article appeared in the June 7, 2019, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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