1. By Anthony P. Carnevale, Martin Van Der Werf,
Michael C. Quinn, Jeff Strohl, and Dimitri Repnikov
November 13, 2018

2. Overview
• The US public higher education system is racially
stratified.
• Whites are given a first-class education in well-funded
selective public colleges.
• Blacks and Latinos are funneled into overcrowded,
underfunded open-access public colleges.
• Graduation rates between selective and open-access
colleges differ widely.
• Standardized test scores are poor predictors of
graduation rates.
• Selective public colleges receive more funding than open-
access public colleges.
• Almost every state has unequal proportions of Blacks and
Latinos enrolled in selective public colleges compared to
their share of the college-age population.
2

3. Selective vs. open-access colleges
in the United States
• Our tax-funded public colleges enroll more than 75 percent of college
students.
• Selective public colleges comprise 170 selective colleges whose
students have median SAT scores ranging between 1150 and 1600.
• Open-access public colleges comprise 1,100 two- and four-year
colleges that admit students who have evidence of high school
graduation or its equivalent.
3 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

4. Public colleges are racially separate
and unequal
• Whites have 64 percent of
the seats in selective public
colleges even though they
make up only 54 percent of
the college-age population.
• Blacks are 15 percent of the
college-age population, but
only 7 percent of freshmen
at selective public colleges.
• Latinos are 21 percent of the
college-age population, but
only 12 percent of freshmen
at selective public colleges.
4Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce44 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

5. • The graduation rate at
selective colleges is 85
percent, while the graduation
rate at open-access colleges
is just 51 percent.
• Black and Latino students
graduate from selective
colleges at almost the same
rate (81%) as White students
(86%).
5 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
Graduation rates differ substantially
between selective public colleges and
open-access public colleges

6. • SAT/ACT scores often reflect
the quality of schooling and
the level of parental education
of the test-taker, factors that
overwhelmingly favor Whites.
• A student who scores just
above average on the SAT
(1000-1099) is about as likely
to graduate as a student who
scores in the top quartile
(1200 and above).
• Only 19 percent of high-
scoring Blacks and Latinos
enroll in selective colleges.
6 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
Standardized test scores are not strong
predictors of college graduation

7. Selective public colleges have more
resources than open-access public
colleges
• The gap in instructional and
academic support spending per
student between open-access
and selective public colleges
has grown from $8,800 in 2005
to $10,600 in 2015.
• Open-access colleges have
only 2.7 full-time faculty
members per 100 full-time
equivalent (FTE) students.
• Selective colleges, meanwhile,
have 6.8 full-time faculty
members per 100 FTE
students.
7Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce7 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

8. Selective public colleges in 15 states get at least twice as
much public funding as open-access public colleges
• In California, selective public
colleges spend five times as
much as open-access public
colleges on instructional and
academic support per
student.
• Selective public colleges
increased spending the most
in Illinois and Connecticut
between 2005 and 2015.
• Open-access public colleges
in Wyoming, Wisconsin, and
Alaska receive far more state
and local government funding
per FTE student than any
other state.
8Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce8 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

9. • Latinos are proportionately
represented at selective
public colleges only in
Florida.
• Blacks are
underrepresented at
selective public colleges in
every state with a sizable
Black population, although
Kentucky comes close to
proportional representation.
9 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
Latinos have been gaining access to selective public
colleges in almost every state, but Black representation
in selective public colleges has declined

10. Conclusion
• Our separate and unequal public higher
education system exacerbates gaps in
educational attainment between Whites and
Blacks and Latinos.
• Enrollment at selective public colleges should
reflect a cross-section of each state’s college-age
population.
• Colleges should end the overreliance on
standardized test scores to decide who gets into
selective public colleges.
• Policymakers should allocate more state and
federal spending to education at open-access
public colleges where the financial needs are
greatest.
10

11. 11
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