Beat the odds

“I won’t be defined by a statistic, like ‘how people who grow up in this area are more likely to turn out.’ Not me!” - Eric Polk, Wake Forest University ’07

Students in poor neighborhoods share the same college hopes as wealthier students. But they start out without the advantages, and so do their schools. Some people call this the “achievement gap.” We call it the “opportunity gap.” Either way, students from poor families and under-resourced schools must dig deeper than their more “advantaged” peers when it comes to college. Is it fair? No. Is it worth the sacrifice? Yes.   

How big is your opportunity gap?

(1) High school students living in low-income families drop out of school at _____ times the rate of students from high-income families:

    a. twice the rate     b. four times the rate    c. six times the rate

(2) While 81 percent of white students graduated from high school in 2008, the graduation rates for Hispanic and African-American students were:

1. a.75% and 73%         b. 64% and 62%          c. 51% and 49%
   

(3) In 2008, the gap in college enrollment rates between high school graduates from the highest and lowest income backgrounds was the smallest ever recorded. Still the enrollment gap between high- and low-income students was:

a. 15%        b. 25%        c. 35%

(4) The number of Hispanic and African-American students enrolled in college has increased steadily. Still, in 2007, 64 percent of college-age Hispanic students and 56 percent of African-American students were enrolled in college, compared to _____ percent of whites:

1. a.70%        b. 78%        c. 85%
   

(5) While 40 percent of high-income students earn a bachelor’s degree in six years, only _____ percent of low-income students earn a bachelor’s degree in six years.

a. 6%          b. 14%        c. 21%

                                                                                                [Answers: c, b, b, a, a]