Chattanooga: Young adults lag in higher education

Shirley Rikeros moved to the United States from Venezuela when she was 13 years old and, though neither of her parents finished high school, she knew she would be a professional like her older siblings.

“I had my goals,” said the senior at Southern Adventist University. “I wanted to become a journalist, to travel all over the world. I knew that, especially coming into a new country, it was going to be difficult, but not impossible.”

Among young adults, Ms. Rikeros could be considered an exception.

In general, today’s young adults lag the older generations in post-secondary education, and the gap widens when broken down by race, a new report released this week by the American Council on Education found.

“It appears we’re at a tipping point in our nation's history,” said American Council on Education President Molly Broad during a teleconference. “For the first time we see a finding in which the younger generation of adults have lower educational attainment than the older generation of American adults. This finding portends greater challenges stemming from the competitive globalization of our economy.”

In 2006, the percentage of people in their mid- to late 20s with at least an associate degree was nearly the same, about 35 percent, as that of older adults ages 30 and above, according to the “Minorities in Higher Education 2008 Twenty-third Status Report.”

Even though Hispanics had the highest percentage increase in college enrollment from 1995 to 2005, overall, Hispanics and American Indians still have less college education than previous generations, the report showed.

In 2006, among older Hispanics, 18 percent had at least an associate degree, but just 16 percent of young Hispanics had reached that same educational threshold, according to the report. Among American Indians, 21 percent of older adults had an associate degree compared with 18 percent of young adults, the report showed.

The higher education attainment rates of blacks remained about the same for both age groups, about 24 percent, while 66 percent of young Asian-Americans had at least an associate degree compared with 54 percent of older Asian-Americans. For whites, it was 41 percent for young adults and 37 percent for older adults.

“One of the core tenets of the American dream is the hope that younger generations, who’ve had greater opportunities for educational advancement than their parents and grandparents, will be better off than the generations before them, yet this report shows that aspiration is at serious risk,” Ms. Broad said.

Minority enrollment at the country’s colleges and universities increased by 50 percent from 3.4 million to 5 million students between 1995 and 2005, but study author Mikyung Ryu attributed the increase primarily to the population growth.

At Dalton State College, the minority enrollment, especially Hispanics, has increased significantly during the last 10 years, said Henry Codjoe, director of institutional research and planning.

“Right now, about 18 percent of our enrollment is minority and it’s way high, about 10 years ago it was about 5 percent,” he said.

Chattanooga’s colleges and universities have experienced similar trends, school officials said.

Despite significant gains in minority college enrollment, nationwide and state progress was uneven between groups, the study found.

In Tennessee and Georgia, blacks and Hispanics had lower college attainment rates than whites and Asian-Americans.

The issue of high school dropout rates is key to reversing the current trend, Ms. Broad said.

“It’s well known that if you graduate from high school, the chances that you might go on to post-secondary education are significantly improved,” she said.

Hispanics had the lowest high-school graduation rate at 68 percent, compared with Asian-Americans with a completion rate of 91 percent.

“This report demonstrates that educational progress, while significant, is not keeping pace with the changing demographic realities,” Ms. Ryu said.