How Educated Are We - College4 Graduates

The chart above shows college enrollment for the years 1870-1998. Total enrollment is then broken down into public and private college enrollment. The chart also shows the number of degrees conferred for all higher education institutions. Just as high school education was once for the wealthy, so too was higher education. But, in the latter half of the 20th century, this changed. As the number of high school graduates rose, so too did the number of people attending college. In 1960, 45.1% of high school graduates went on to college. In 1998, 65.6% did.

The number of people attending colleges started to increase dramatically after World War II. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 allowed millions of veterans (regardlessof race or social class) to attend college. Of the 7.8 million veterans eligible, 2.2 million used the benefits to attend colleges and universities. By 1947, half of all college students were veterans. The demand for more practical coursework led to a greater emphasis in higher education on degree programs. This contributed to the rise in degrees conferred after 1940.

Later, more and more women started to go to college. The percentage of women students in 1950 was 31.6%; by 1970 it was 40.8%. In 1998, the percentage of women enrolled in colleges and universities was greater than the percentage of men enrolled: 56.8%. More minorities started to attend college as well. This coincided with the increased minority enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools (in 1972, 22% of public school students were part of a minority group; by 1999, 38% were). The following table shows the change in the number of students attending college by race/ethnicity from 1980 to 1997.

Change in Number of Students Attending College, by Race/Ethnicity, 1980-1997

	Total enrollment (1997)	Change in enrollment (1980-1997)	% Change (1980-1997)
White	10,266,100	433,100	4.4
Black	1,551,000	444,200	40.1
Hispanic	1,218,500	746,800	158.3
American Indian	142,500	58,600	69.8
Asian	859,200	572,800	200.0
Nonresident alien	465,000	160,000	52.4

The dramatic rise in public college enrollment may be attributed to the cost. Tuition at public institutions continued to be much lower than at private institutions. In 1970, the cost of tuition at a public institution was about 21% of the cost of tuition at a private college. In 2000, tuition at a public college was less than 18% that of a private college. The next table shows the annual tuition cost of both public and private institutions and the median family income in current dollars. A more in-depth discussion about tuition costs can be found in a later chapter, Trends in Postsecondary Education.

Annual Tuition Cost, 1970-2000

	Public tuition per year ($)	Public tuition as % of income	Private tuition per year ($)	Private tuition as % of income	Median Family Income5 ($)
1970	323	3.3	1,533	15.5	9,867
1980	583	2.8	3,130	14.9	21,023
1990	1,356	3.8	8,174	23.1	35,353
2000	2,507	5.1	14,175	29.0	48,950

In the next panel we look at the educational attainment of the population by race.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Years to 1970 and Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1994, 1996 and 2001. U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics: 1992 and 1999 and "Racial/Ethnic Distribution of Public School Students." The Condition of Education: 2001. Online. Available: http://nces.ed.gov. March 21, 2002. "G.I. Bill." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Online. Available : http://www.wld.com/conbus/weal/wgibill.htm. March 21, 2000. Chart data: Enrollment data for 1960 is actually enrollment data for 1961. Source did not provide data for 1960. Enrollment data for 1950-1998: Digest of Education Statistics. Degree-conferred data for 1870-1960: Historical Statistics. Degree-conferred data for 1970-1998: Statistical Abstract of the United States 2001.