"High college costs sabotage black graduation rates"
The New Haven Register
December 5, 2006
By Algernon Austin

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Senior Fellow Algernon Austin writes about the soaring cost of college tuition and the graduation rates of of low-income and minority students.

New Haven Register, p. A8
January 5, 2006

High College Costs Sabotage Black Graduation Rates
by Algernon Austin

Ninety-two percent of black students believe that a college education is important for success. Ninety-six percent of their parents feel the same. These were among the findings of a study conducted by the Patterson Research Institute of the United Negro College Fund. The study examined the views of high school students and their parents in five cities.

While many commentators have been fixated on the erroneous idea that black students do not value education, truly important educational issues have received little attention. One issue that has been neglected is the impact of the skyrocketing cost of college on black students college graduation rate.

The good news is that in 2004, 22 percent more blacks received bachelors degrees than just four years earlier. In Connecticut, there have been significant increases in the numbers of blacks enrolling in community colleges also. The bad news is that the black college graduation rate is still 20 percentage points lower than the white rate.

The cost of college is not the only factor behind this difference in college graduation rates, but it is an important one. Many blacks know very little about financial aid. Some black students do not even attempt to go to college because they do not know how they would pay for it.

The large increase in the cost of college and changes in financial aid practices have greatly increased the economic burden of higher education on low-income families.

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that it costs the poorest 20 percent of families 16 percent more of their family income to send a child to college today than in 1992. The middle 20 percent of families spend 5 percent more of their family income and the top 20 percent, 1 percent more. The Center also found that colleges now give more grant aid to middle- and upper-income students than to low-income students.

Many low-income black students are placed in a difficult bind to pay for college. Reasonably, they are reluctant to acquire a great deal of debt. The average black college student graduates with over $20,000 worth. But they do not have any good alternatives. The maximum Pell Grant award for low-income students only covers about one-third of the costs of a four-year college today, but it covered nearly three-quarters in the 1970s. The vast majority of students who receive the grant do not even receive the maximum award.

In a desire to avoid debt, low-income black students may select a college that they can attend part-time and commute to. These decisions would allow them to save and earn money by staying at home and working part-time. While these are economically rational decisions, they all make it more likely that the student does not graduate.

It is often a difficult process for black students who are the first in their family to go to college and who are used to a predominantly black environment to become acculturated to a predominantly white college. Black students who are fully immersed in college life by attending full-time and by living on campus appear to better make the adjustments and attachments they need to help them stay in college. Students who try to save money by enrolling part-time and commuting may end up with perhaps less college debt, but also no college diploma.

Low-income students of any race should not be forced to choose between avoiding debt and a college diploma. We need to find ways to reduce college costs and increase the amounts of grant aid going to low-income students.

In 2004, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education gave 36 states an F grade for college affordability. This year there were 43 Fs. Connecticut received an F in 2004 and 2006. The increase in tuition at the University of Connecticut puts us on track for another F in 2008.

If we recognize the magnitude of this crisis and act soon, we will make big strides in increasing the numbers of blacks who graduate from college and ease the burden on all low-income college students.