Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study

Figure 2-2.
Percentage of children ages 6–18 whose parents’ highest level of educational attainment was a
bachelor’s degree or higher, by child’s race/ethnicity and sex: 2010
2
Percent
100
80
60
40
20
35 35
44 44
20 20
16 16
59 59
17
20
18 18
11
22
39 38
Demographics
0
Total¹ White Black Hispanic Asian Native
Hawaiian/
Pacific
Islander
Race/ethnicity
American
Indian
Alaska
Native
Two or
more races
1
Male
Female
¹ Total includes other racial/ethnic groups not shown separately in the figure.
NOTE: Parent education reflects the highest level of education attained by any parent residing with the child. Parents include adoptive and step-parents but
exclude nonresidential parents. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2010.
(27 percent), Hispanics (25 percent), and American
Indians (25 percent) had parents who completed high
school as their highest level of education compared with
Whites (18 percent), Asians (13 percent), and children of
two or more races (17 percent). The percentage for Alaska
Native children was also higher than the percentages for
Black and Hispanic children.
The percentage of Asian children (59 percent) who had
parents with at least a bachelor’s degree was higher than
Technical Notes
Parent education reflects the highest level of education
attained by any parent residing with the child.
the percentages of children of all other racial/ethnic
groups. The percentages of Asian, White (44 percent),
and children of two or more races (38 percent) who had
parents with a bachelor’s degree or higher were larger
than the corresponding percentages of Black (20 percent),
Hispanic (16 percent), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
(18 percent), American Indian (18 percent), and Alaska
Native children (16 percent).
Parents include adoptive and step-parents but exclude
nonresidential parents.
Demographic Context 13