The growing college degree divide

A student’s future should be determined solely by their aspirations, motivation and effort, not by their family’s income

Yet nationwide, there’s a widening gap between the aspirations of students from underrepresented communities who want to earn a college degree and the systemic, unfair barriers they face in achieving it.

While there is no single cause, contributors to this degree divide include inequitable academic prep, fragmented resources, complex college systems and resource-constrained staff. Early evidence indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has widened these barriers, putting the diversity of our future workforce and equitable economic mobility at continued risk.

When students from underinvested communities earn a bachelor’s degree, especially those who are the first in their family to attend college, they are 24% more likely to be employed and 3.5 times less likely to live in poverty when compared with peers who don’t attend college.³

Evidence shows that college graduates earn upward of $1.2 million more in their lifetime, and have higher rates of civic engagement than their high school graduate peers.⁵ Evidence also shows that removing barriers to college access and success can create a more diverse and richer educational experience on college campuses. Removing these barriers also contributes to building a more diverse workforce, a critical factor in fueling greater innovation, stronger communities, and more equitable economic mobility.