College enrollment has grown substantially among Black students between 1990 and 2021. However, Black college student enrollment rates in the United States are consistently lower than those of the national population, and they are notably lower than the enrollment rates for white students and Asian students. Recent enrollment trends from the years 2018-2021 show that Black students today do not have equitable access to postsecondary education, compared to many of their non-Black counterparts (Digest of Education Statistics, 2022).
For example, in 2020, Black people aged 18- 24 were enrolled in college at a rate of 36%. In contrast, 64% of Asian people of the same age group were enrolled in college, followed by white people (41%) and Hispanic people (36%). This ongoing pattern leads many to the question of why Black students continue to have relatively low enrollment rates.
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