In Fact

Low-income students enroll at the same rate as middle-income students if they take all the necessary steps toward enrollment. (1)

In 2000, 82 percent of high school graduates in the top income quartile enrolled in college, while only 57 percent of students from the bottom quartile did so. (2)

In 2003, 53% of low-income high school seniors enrolled in college immediately following graduation as opposed to 80% of high-income graduates. (3)

In the last decade, tuition and required fees at four-year institutions increased 41% while federal grants increased 14% and state aid 17%. (3)

The cost of attending a four-year university was about 60 percent of the annual family income for students from the lowest income quartile, and about 5 percent of the annual family income for students from the highest income quartile. (4)

Almost seventy percent of low-income Latino 11th and 12th grade urban high school students reported that they would use financial aid information to decide if they would pursue postsecondary education. (5)

More than 22% of all academically qualified, low-income students do not attend a postsecondary institution. (6)

1 Access and Persistence, American Council on Education, 2002
2 AAC&U News, Facts and Figures, March 2004
3 Questions that Matter, Social Science Research Council, 2005
4 College Board, 2002
5 Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, 2005
6 Meeting the Access Challenge, Lumina Foundation, 2002