Indicator 8.1: Educational Attainment

Figure 8.1. Percentage distribution of adults ages 25 and over, by highest level of education and race/ethnicity: 2003

1 Includes master's, doctoral, and professional degrees. NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), March 2003.

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Thirteen percent of American Indians/Alaska Natives 25 years and older held a bachelor's or graduate degree.

In 2003, 42 percent of American Indians/Alaska Natives had attended at least some college. Thirty-five percent had finished high school without continuing on to postsecondary education and 23 percent had not finished high school.¹¹ The percentage of American Indians/Alaska Natives who had not finished high school was lower when compared to Hispanics (43 percent), but higher when compared to Whites (11 percent) and Asian/Pacific Islanders (12 percent). A lower percentage of American Indians/Alaska Natives completed a bachelor's degree only (9 percent) than all other racial/ethnic groups except Hispanics. A lower percentage of American Indians/Alaska Natives achieved a graduate degree (4 percent) compared to other racial/ethnicity groups except Blacks and Hispanics, whose percentages were similar (5 and 3 percent, respectively).

View Table 8.1

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¹¹ This is different from the status dropout rate of 15 percent reported in indicator 3.3. The 23 percent reported here represents adults 25 years and older who have not completed a high school credential. The status dropout rate is the percentage of 16- to 24-year-olds who are out of school and who have not completed a high school credential.