Table A-21-3. Percentage of high school completers who were enrolled in 2- or 4-year colleges the October immediately following high school completion, by race/ethnicity: 1972

Student Effort and Educational Progress: Tables

Transition to College

Table A-21-3. Percentage of high school completers who were enrolled in 2- or 4-year colleges the October immediately following high school completion, by race/ethnicity: 1972–2007

		Black		Hispanic		Gap between White and
Year	White	Annual	Moving average1	Annual	Moving average1	Black²		Hispanic²
1972	49.7	44.6	38.4	45.0	49.9	11.3		-0.2
1973	47.8	32.5	41.4	54.1	48.8	6.4	!	-1.0
1974	47.2	47.2	40.5	46.9	53.2	6.7	!	-6.0
1975	51.1	41.7	44.5	58.0	52.7	6.6	!	-1.5
1976	48.8	44.4	45.3	52.7	53.6	3.5	!	-4.8

1977	50.8	49.5	46.8	50.8	48.8	4.0	!	2.1	!
1978	50.5	46.4	47.5	42.0	46.1	3.0	!	4.4	!
1979	49.9	46.7	45.2	45.0	46.3	4.7	!	3.7	!
1980	49.8	42.7	44.0	52.3	49.6	5.9	!	0.3	!
1981	54.9	42.7	40.3	52.1	48.7	14.6		6.2	!

1982	52.7	35.8	38.8	43.2	49.4	13.9		3.3	!
1983	55.0	38.2	38.0	54.2	46.7	17.1		8.4	!
1984	59.0	39.8	39.9	44.3	49.3	19.1		9.7	!
1985	60.1	42.2	39.5	51.0	46.1	20.5		13.9	!
1986	56.8	36.9	43.5	44.0	42.3	13.3		14.5	!

1987	58.6	52.2	44.2	33.5	45.0	14.4		13.6	!
1988	61.1	44.4	49.7	57.1	48.5	11.4		12.6	!
1989	60.7	53.4	48.0	55.1	52.7	12.7		8.0	!
1990	63.0	46.8	48.9	42.7	52.5	14.1		10.6	!
1991	65.4	46.4	47.2	57.2	52.6	18.2		12.8	!

1992	64.3	48.2	50.0	55.0	58.2	14.3		6.1	!
1993	62.9	55.6	51.3	62.2	55.7	11.6		7.3	!
1994	64.5	50.8	52.4	49.1	55.0	12.1		9.5	!
1995	64.3	51.2	52.9	53.7	51.6	11.4		12.7
1996	67.4	56.0	55.4	50.8	57.6	12.1		9.8	!

1997	68.2	58.5	58.8	65.6	55.3	9.4		12.9
1998	68.5	61.9	59.8	47.4	51.9	8.8		16.6
1999	66.3	58.9	58.6	42.3	47.4	7.7	!	18.9
2000	65.7	54.9	56.3	52.9	48.6	9.4		17.1
2001	64.2	54.6	56.3	51.7	52.7	7.8	!	11.4

2002	68.9	59.4	57.2	53.3	54.7	11.7		14.1
2003	66.2	57.5	60.0	58.6	57.7	6.2	!	8.5	!
2004	68.8	62.5	58.8	61.8	57.7	10.0		11.1
2005	73.2	55.7	58.2	54.0	57.5	15.0		15.7
2006	68.5	55.5	55.6	57.9	58.5	12.9		10.0
2007	69.5	55.7	55.6	64.0	60.9	13.9		8.7	!
! Interpret data with caution (estimates are unstable).
¹ Due to unreliable (or unstable) estimates associated with small sample sizes for the Black and Hispanic categories, moving average rates are also presented. Moving average rates were generally calculated as the average of the annual rates for the following 3 adjacent years: the year in question, the year immediately before it, and the year immediately after it. For 1972 and 2007, which do not have available data for 1 of the 3 adjacent years, the moving average rate was calculated as the average of the annual rates in the 2 available adjacent years.
² Refers to the moving average rates for the Black and Hispanic categories.
NOTE: Includes high school completers ages 16–24, who accounted for about 98 percent of all high school completers in each year. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. For more information on the CPS, educational attainment, and race/ethnicity, see supplemental note 2. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 1972–2007.

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