Percentage of high school completers who were enrolled in college the October immediately following high school completion, by family income and race/ethnicity: 1972

Student Effort and Educational Progress: Tables

Transition to College

Table 25-1. Percentage of high school completers who were enrolled in college the October immediately following high school completion, by family income and race/ethnicity: 1972–2005

		Family income¹				Race/ethnicity²
		Low		Middle	High	White	Black		Hispanic
Year	Total	Annual	3-year average³	Annual	Annual	Annual	Annual	3-year average³	Annual	3-year average³

1972	49.2	26.1	†	45.2	63.8	49.7	44.6	†	45.0	†
1973	46.6	20.3	†	40.9	64.4	47.8	32.5	41.4	54.1	48.8
1974	47.6	—	†	—	—	47.2	47.2	40.5	46.9	53.1
1975	50.7	31.2	†	46.2	64.5	51.1	41.7	44.5	58.0	52.7
1976	48.8	39.1	32.3	40.5	63.0	48.8	44.4	45.3	52.7	53.6
1977	50.6	27.7	32.4	44.2	66.3	50.8	49.5	46.8	50.8	48.8
1978	50.1	31.4	29.8	44.3	64.0	50.5	46.4	47.5	42.0	46.1
1979	49.3	30.5	31.6	43.2	63.2	49.9	46.7	45.2	45.0	46.3
1980	49.3	32.5	32.2	42.5	65.2	49.8	42.7	44.0	52.3	49.6
1981	53.9	33.6	32.9	49.2	67.6	54.9	42.7	40.3	52.1	48.7
1982	50.6	32.8	33.6	41.7	70.9	52.7	35.8	38.8	43.2	49.4
1983	52.7	34.6	34.0	45.2	70.3	55.0	38.2	38.0	54.2	46.7
1984	55.2	34.5	36.3	48.4	74.0	59.0	39.8	39.9	44.3	49.3
1985	57.7	40.2	35.9	50.6	74.6	60.1	42.2	39.5	51.0	46.1
1986	53.8	33.9	36.8	48.5	71.0	56.8	36.9	43.5	44.0	42.3
1987	56.8	36.9	37.6	50.0	73.8	58.6	52.2	44.2	33.5	45.0
1988	58.9	42.5	42.4	54.7	72.8	61.1	44.4	49.7	57.1	48.5
1989	59.6	48.1	45.6	55.4	70.7	60.7	53.4	48.0	55.1	52.7
1990	60.1	46.7	44.8	54.4	76.6	63.0	46.8	48.9	42.7	52.5
1991	62.5	39.5	42.2	58.4	78.2	65.4	46.4	47.2	57.2	52.6
1992	61.9	40.9	43.6	57.0	79.0	64.3	48.2	50.0	55.0	58.2
1993	62.6	50.4	44.7	56.9	79.3	62.9	55.6	51.3	62.2	55.7
1994	61.9	43.3	42.0	57.8	77.9	64.5	50.8	52.4	49.1	55.0
1995	61.9	34.2	42.1	56.0	83.5	64.3	51.2	52.9	53.7	51.6
1996	65.0	48.6	47.1	62.7	78.0	67.4	56.0	55.4	50.8	57.6
1997	67.0	57.0	50.6	60.7	82.2	68.2	58.5	58.8	65.6	55.3
1998	65.6	46.4	50.9	64.7	77.5	68.5	61.9	59.8	47.4	51.9
1999	62.9	49.4	48.5	59.4	76.1	66.3	58.9	58.6	42.3	47.4
2000	63.3	49.7	47.8	59.5	76.9	65.7	54.9	56.3	52.9	48.6
2001	61.7	43.8	50.0	56.3	79.9	64.2	54.6	56.3	51.7	52.7
2002	65.2	56.4	51.0	60.7	78.2	68.9	59.4	57.2	53.3	54.7
2003	63.9	52.8	53.1	57.6	80.1	66.2	57.5	60.0	58.6	57.7
2004	66.7	49.6	52.0	63.5	79.3	68.8	62.5	58.8	61.8	57.7
2005	68.6	53.5	†	65.1	81.2	73.2	55.7	†	54.0	†

— Not available. Data on family income were not available in 1974.
† Not applicable because data for one of the three consecutive years are not available or one of the years is not applicable.
¹Low income refers to the bottom 20 percent of all family incomes, high income refers to the top 20 percent of all family incomes, and middle income refers to the 60 percent in between. See supplemental note 2 for further information.
²Included in the total but not shown separately are high school completers from other racial/ethnic groups. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.
³Due to small sample sizes for the low-income, Black, and Hispanic categories, 3-year averages also were calculated for each category. For example, the 3-year average for Blacks in 1977 is the average percentage of Black high school completers ages 16–24 who were enrolled in college the October after completing high school in 1976, 1977, and 1978.
NOTE: Includes those ages 16–24 completing high school in a given year. The Current Population Survey (CPS) questions about educational attainment were reworded in 1992. Before then, high school completers referred to those who completed 12 years of schooling; beginning in 1992, the term referred to those who received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate. In 1994, the survey methodology for the CPS was changed and weights were adjusted. See supplemental note 2 for further information. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Some estimates have been revised from previous publications.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 1972–2005.

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