1

March 2005

The educational progress of women and minority groups has

long been an important policy concern. Research indicates

that both women and minorities have made significant gains

in postsecondary educational enrollment and attainment over

the past 20 years (Freeman 2004; Llagas 2003; National Center for Education Statistics 2000; Koretz 1990). But there has

been some debate about the size of the gender gap in

postsecondary enrollment (which now favors females) relative to the size of racial/ethnic gaps (King 2000; Mortensen

1999). To address this debate, this Issue Brief uses nearly 30

years of data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) School

Enrollment Supplement (October 1974 to October 2003) to

examine participation in postsecondary education among

women and men and among different racial/ethnic groups.1

Enrollment rates are often calculated as the percentage of

young adults who are currently in postsecondary education.

As Koretz (1990) notes, these enrollment rates typically underestimate a group’s educational progress by counting college graduates who are no longer enrolled as if they had never

entered college. To better reflect educational progress, this

analysis counts individuals who are enrolled in postsecondary

education or who have completed at least 2 years of postsecondary education.2

 In addition, the enrollment/completion

rates presented here are based on the total age cohort rather

than on high school graduates; the latter understates racial/

ethnic differences in educational progress, because the lower

high school completion rates of minorities (Snyder and

Hoffman 2003) are factored out. Thus, the data presented

here include differences in the rates at which young adults

complete high school, enter postsecondary education, and

persist in postsecondary education. To avoid confusion with

traditional enrollment rates, these data are referred to as participation rates.

Specifically, this Issue Brief examines the rates at which young,

traditionally college-age individuals (all adults ages 18 to 24)

Postsecondary Participation Rates by Sex and

Race/Ethnicity: 1974–2003

U.S. Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

NCES 2005–028

IssueBrief

enroll in or complete postsecondary education. This age cohort accounts for 63 percent of undergraduate enrollment

(Snyder and Hoffman 2003, table 175) and is the age group

most likely to attain a postsecondary degree after enrolling

(Berkner, He, and Cataldi 2002, p. 57).

Participation Rates by Sex and Race/Ethnicity

Figure 1 shows that in 1974, young men participated in

postsecondary education at a higher rate than young women

(38 vs. 33 percent). Since 1974, both young men and young

women have increased their rate of participation. However,

the participation rate of young women outpaced that of young

men, so that by 2003 participation patterns had reversed: 51

percent of young women had entered and/or completed

postsecondary education, compared to 41 percent of young

men.

In 1974, young Whites participated in postsecondary education at a higher rate than both young Blacks and young Hispanics (38 vs. 26 and 22 percent, respectively). From 1974 to

2003, participation rates for all three groups increased; however, the increase in the participation of Whites outpaced that

of Blacks and of Hispanics. Thus, in 2003 Whites continued

to have higher participation rates than both Blacks and Hispanics. In addition, the White-Hispanic gap increased from

16 percentage points in 1974 to 26 percentage points in 2003.

Although it appears that there was a 3 percentage point increase (from 12 to 15 percent) in the participation gap between Whites and Blacks, this increase was not statistically

significant.

Participation Rates by Sex and Race/Ethnicity

Combinations

The data in figure 1 suggest that young men and young minorities are increasingly underrepresented in postsecondary

education. But is this a problem common among all young

men and all young minorities? In other words, do these overall trends mask differences by racial/ethnic group within the

sexes, or by sex within racial/ethnic groups, that can help

provide a more complete picture of postsecondary participation trends and patterns?

To address these issues, figure 2 shows the 18- to 24-year-old

participation rate trends for each sex and racial/ethnic group

combination (White females, White males, etc.). As the figure shows, with one exception, all six groups increased their

participation rates from 1974 to 2003. The exception is Hispanic men, whose participation rate declined over this period.

1

 The racial/ethnic groups compared are non-Hispanic Whites, nonHispanic Blacks, and Hispanics. For the remainder of this Issue

Brief, the former two groups will be referred to as Whites and Blacks,

respectively.

2

 Ideally, the analysis would have used those enrolled in

postsecondary education or who have a postsecondary credential.

This type of analysis is possible from 1992 to 2003, when CPS

respondents were asked what degree they had earned; those with

an associate’s degree or higher were included in this analysis. Prior

to 1992, however, respondents were asked how many years of

education they had completed; for those years, responses of 2 or

more years of college were included in this analysis.
2

Figure 1. Postsecondary participation rates for adults ages 18–24, by sex and race/ethnicity: 1974–2003

NOTE: Participation includes those enrolled in postsecondary education and those who have completed (1) at least 2 years of postsecondary education

(1974–1991 data), or (2) an associate's or higher degree (1992–2003 data). White and Black groups exclude those of Hispanic origin.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 1974–2003.

Figure 2. Postsecondary participation rates for adults ages 18–24, by combinations of sex and race/ethnicity: 1974–2003

NOTE: Participation includes those enrolled in postsecondary education and those who have completed (1) at least 2 years of postsecondary education

(1974–1991 data), or (2) an associate's or higher degree (1992–2003 data). White and Black groups exclude those of Hispanic origin.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 1974–2003.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Hispanic

Black

White

Female

Male

Percent

Year

1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003

1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Hispanic females Hispanic males

Black females

Black males

White females

White males

Year

Percent

1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003

1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002
3

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling

variability. All differences discussed in the text are statistically significant at the .05 level. Standard errors for this Issue Brief can be found on the web at http://

nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005028. For more information on the Current Population Survey October supplement, visit http://nces.ed.gov/

surveys/cps/data.asp.

This Issue Brief was prepared by Lisa Hudson of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and Sally Aquilino and Gregory Kienzl of the Education

Statistics Services Institute (ESSI), with analytic support from Juliet Diehl of ESSI. This Issue Brief was formatted by Carol Rohr of Pinkerton Computer Consultants,

Inc. For further information, contact Lisa Hudson, NCES, at 202-502-7358 or lisa.hudson@ed.gov. To order additional copies of this Issue Brief or other NCES

publications, call 1-877-4ED-PUBS or visit http://www.edpubs.org. NCES publications are also available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov.

More to the point, these data show how the sexes compare

within each racial/ethnic group, and how the racial/ethnic

groups compare within each sex. Looking first at the sexes,

figure 2 shows that for each racial/ethnic group, young

women’s increase in participation outpaced that of young men,

so that as of 2003, there was a gender gap (of 8–12 percentage points) favoring females for each racial/ethnic group.3

Comparing these gender gaps across racial/ethnic groups shows

that the 2003 gender gap for Whites was not measurably different in size from the gender gap for Blacks or for Hispanics.

Looking at the racial/ethnic groups separately for young men

and young women, the participation rates of both male and

female Whites increased at a faster pace than those of their

Black and Hispanic same-sex peers. In 2003 (as in 1974), racial/ethnic participation gaps favored Whites over Blacks and

Whites over Hispanics for both sexes. The racial/ethnic gaps

for males were not measurably different in size from the racial/ethnic gaps for females.

The findings above suggest that the overall 2003 male-female

gap accurately describes the gaps for each racial/ethnic group,

and vice versa. Thus, it is relevant (for both sexes and all racial/ethnic groups) that the 2003 racial/ethnic gap of 15 points

between Whites and Blacks and the 26-point gap between

Whites and Hispanics are both larger than the 2003 gender

gap of 10 percentage points. From this statistical perspective,

racial/ethnic gaps are larger than the gender gap.

Summary

How do participation trends compare across these sex and

racial/ethnic groups? All but one of the groups examined here

increased their rate of postsecondary participation from 1974

to 2003. The one exception was young Hispanic males, whose

participation rate declined while the rates of others increased.

Moreover, participation gaps favoring females over males and

Whites over Hispanics increased during this period.

As of 2003, the postsecondary participation gap between

young men and young women was 10 percentage points, a

gap that cuts across all three major racial/ethnic groups. However, this gender gap is smaller than the gap between Whites

and Blacks and between Whites and Hispanics. As noted above,

these gaps reflect the effects of sex and racial/ethnic differences in high school completion, postsecondary attendance,

and postsecondary persistence, which may in some cases have

cumulative effects (cf. Hudson 2003).

References

Berkner, L., He, S., and Cataldi, E.F. (2002). Descriptive Summary

of 1995–96 Beginning Postsecondary Students: Six Years Later

(NCES 2003–151). U.S. Department of Education.

Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Freeman, C. (2004). Trends in Educational Equity of Girls & Women:

2004 (NCES 2005–016). U.S. Department of Education.

Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Hudson, L. (2003). Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Path to a

Postsecondary Credential (NCES 2003–005). U.S. Department

of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education

Statistics.

King, J.E. (2000). Gender Equity in Higher Education: Are Male

Students at a Disadvantage? Washington, DC: American

Council on Education.

Koretz, D. (1990). Trends in the Postsecondary Enrollment of

Minorities (R-3948-FF). Santa Monica, CA: The RAND

Corporation.

Llagas, C. (2003). Status and Trends in the Education of Hispanics

(NCES 2003–008). U.S. Department of Education.

Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Mortenson, T.G. (1999). Where Are the Boys? The Growing Gender

Gap in Higher Education. The College Board Review, 188: 8–

17.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2000). The Condition of

Education 2000 (NCES 2000–062). U.S. Department of

Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Snyder, T.D., and Hoffman, C.M. (2003). Digest of Education

Statistics 2002 (NCES 2003–060). U.S. Department of

Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

3

 In 1974, White males had a higher participation rate than White

females; no differences were detected in the participation rates of

males versus females in each of the minority groups.
Postsecondary Participation Rates by Sex and

Race/Ethnicity: 1974–2003 NCES 2005–028

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest.

Brief Issue

Postage and Fees Paid

U.S. Department of Education

Permit No. G–17

U.S. Department of Education

ED Pubs

8242-B Sandy Court

Jessup, MD 20794-1398

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use, $300