Information Services - Statistical Reports
Plans of High School Graduates: Class of 2001
Racial/Ethnic Groups
Post-graduate plans also varied according to racial/ethnic group (Figure 5). In 2001 the percentage of Asian graduates planning to attend a two- or four-year college (84 percent) was higher than that of white graduates (77 percent), African-American graduates (68 percent), Hispanic graduates (61 percent), and Native American graduates (53 percent). The percentage of graduates planning to attend public colleges ranged by race/ethnicity from 35 percent (Native American) to 43 percent (Hispanic). The percentage of those planning to attend private colleges ranged from 18 percent (Hispanic) to 42 percent (Asian).
For each race reported, the percentage of graduates planning to attend college has increased over the past ten years (Figure 6). Between 1991 and 2001, the percentage of Asian graduates planning to attend college increased from 79 to 84 percent. For whites, the percentage increased from 67 to 77 percent; for African-Americans, the percentage increased from 62 to 68 percent; for Hispanics, the percentage increased from 56 to 61 percent. For Native Americans, the percentage increased from 48 to 53 percent over the past ten years, but this increase has not been as steady as for the other racial/ethnic groups.
Gender
In the 2001 graduating class, 82 percent of female graduates planned to attend a two- or four-year college, compared to 69 percent of male graduates, while a higher percentage of male graduates than female graduates (18 versus 10 percent) intended to work (Table 1). Over four times as many males as females planned to enter the military (approximately 4 to 1 percent). These differences extend a gender pattern seen in recent years. In the last ten years, females have consistently planned to attend college at a higher rate (approximately thirteen percentage points) than males, but each gender has increasingly planned to attend college over this time period (Figure 7).
Race/Ethnicity and Gender
The disparity between the percentages of female and male graduates planning to attend college also varies by race/ethnicity (Figure 8). In each racial/ethnic group, the percentage of female graduates planning to attend college was higher than that of male graduates. The largest difference is among Native American graduates, with 66 percent of Native American female graduates having planned to attend college compared to 42 percent of Native American male graduates (a difference of 24 percentage points). The smallest difference was among Asian graduates: within this group 87 percent of female graduates and 81 percent of male graduates planned to attend college.
