Educational Attainment

Barriers

Socioeconomic Status

A child’s socioeconomic status significantly predicts their success in education. Children from low-income households often develop academic skills slower than those from wealthier backgrounds.[1] Underfunded schools in low-income communities lack resources, which hurts students’ outcomes. These students are more likely to have poor cognitive development, language skills, memory, and emotional processing, impacting their future health and income.

Performance gaps based on socioeconomic status tend to appear early in life and persist into adulthood.[2] Early intervention and support are crucial for helping children catch up and succeed.

Inadequate education perpetuates a cycle that hinders individuals and communities from improving their socioeconomic status. For example, adults are more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree if their parents did. Second-generation college graduates tend to have more wealth and higher median household incomes than first-generation graduates.[3]

[1] American Psychological Association

[2] Economic Policy Institute

[3] The Pew Charitable Trusts

Cost

Financial barriers are why many U.S. adults without a college degree aren’t enrolled in higher education. Among current students, 29% cite high cost, and 22% cite inflation as the primary challenge to remaining enrolled.[4]

The rising cost of college hits low-income students the hardest. Despite being eligible for Pell Grants, these students tend to borrow more money for college than students from higher-income households. Even 10 years after graduation, 37% of Black Americans reported a negative net worth. Nearly a third struggled to meet essential expenses.[5]

[4] National Association of Student Federal Aid Adminstrators

[5] The Pell Institute and PennAHEAD

Geography

Geographic location significantly impacts educational opportunities and outcomes for students across the United States.

About 21% of the rural population age 25 or older have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to about 36% of adults in non-rural settings.[6] Rural students are geographically isolated from colleges, have financial burdens, and have fewer local jobs available that require a degree, which compounds their earnings disadvantage.[7]

Historic redlining and neighborhood segregation practices continue to impact education inequality today.[8] Areas with higher home values have more affluent school districts, which spend more per student than poorer districts. School districts with a majority of white children receive $23 billion more funding than districts with predominantly Black populations.[9] School district boundaries limit students to specific schools rather than allowing families to choose where to attend for the best education.

Poor urban schools often also receive less funding than suburban ones. Within these districts, schools with more low-income and racial and ethnic minority students have fewer resources.[10] These students have fewer and lower-quality books, curriculum materials, laboratories, and computers. Teachers in these schools are sometimes less qualified and experienced and teach larger class sizes than well-funded schools.

[6] Postsecondary National Policy Institute

[7] The Brookings Institution

[8] Penn Undergraduate Law Journal

[9] Penn Undergraduate Law Journal

[10] The Right Thing to Do, The Smart Thing to Do: Enhancing Diversity in the Health Professions: Summary of the Symposium on Diversity in Health Professions in Honor of Herbert W.Nickens, M.D.

Social Identity

Ethnic and racial disparities in education show that Black, American Indian, Hispanic, Latino, and Southeast Asian students often underperform compared to white and other Asian-American students.[11] These disparities mirror gaps in socioeconomic status and health outcomes, start early in childhood, and continue throughout K-12 education.

Opportunity gaps in reading and math start in kindergarten and are linked to racially segregated school districts.[12] Despite desegregation laws, 31% of Hispanic and Latino and 23% of Black students attended schools where most students were of their race. Segregation affects funding, teacher quality, and student outcomes.

These disparities come from factors outside students’ control. They:

• Mirror gaps in socioeconomic status and health outcomes
• Are linked to differences in family income and test scores
• Appear in test scores, grade repetition, dropout and graduation rates, participation in gifted programs, higher education enrollment, and rates of discipline, suspension, and expulsion

[11] American Psychological Association

[12] U.S. Department of the Treasury

Disability

Nationwide, 65% of students with disabilities graduate high school, compared to 85% of non-disabled students.[13] Several factors cause inequity in education for children with disabilities:

• Social attitudes toward disabilities
• Lack of resources and trained teachers
• Inaccessible learning programs
• High poverty rates among people with disabilities

[13] United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region

Language

Students who are Deaf or hard of hearing or who aren’t proficient in English have several barriers in school.[14] They might not understand teacher instructions or complex texts. They might struggle to write coherent essays and make oral presentations. Passing standardized exams and college admissions tests is challenging for these students.

Students fall behind in class when they miss key concepts; the gaps compound each year.

[14] Globo