What does this date suggest about you and your prospective for

earning bachelor's degree?

According to the data I as a white student have a 29.3 percent chance of
obtaining a bachelor's degree, this is the second highest chance, which is
significantly higher than most other races.
Why do you think the data suggests this? What factors contributes to
such statistics?
I think that whilst America has come a long way from racism, racial prejudice is
still very much alive in our society towards certain races, however usually not
Caucasians. This plays a huge role in why, Caucasians have a high chance of
getting into four-year colleges as they are usually not judged based off of there
racial background. Typically, Caucasians are also known to have a lot more
money and therefore much more able to afford to go to a four-year college which
is more than twice as expensive as a two-year college.
Do you recognize any injustice in this date? Equity? Equality?
From observing the data one can conclude that the statistic for Hispanics,
American Indians and Alaska Natives with a Bachelor's degree or some form of
higher education is significantly lower, this is due to a number of reasons. One
of the main reasons being that within the hispanic community, although
Hispanics believe college education is a important role in being successful in life,
financial pressures and expectations to support a family are incredibly high.
Almost 74 percent of all 16-25 year old survey respondents cut their educations
short because they had to go straight into the work force to support their family
(Lopez, Latinos and Education, Pewhispanic.org). Another reason is that they
simply cannot afford tuition for a four year school, research shows that hispanics
are not fond of taking out loans as they dislike incurring debt, they also on
average receive much lower financial aid awards than other races(Ramos,

Hispanics Struggle to Graduate, npr.org). With American Indians and Alaska

Natives, 8 percent of them attended schools funded by the federal Bureau of
Indian Education, research has shown that children attending BIE schools tend to
experience poorer educational outcomes than their other Native peers who
attend public schools. Also because of the fact there is less American Indians and
Alaska Natives, numerous amounts of colleges have tried to correct this
imbalance by offering College Grant Programs to Native Americans, however
many of these students are unaware of these programs and miss out on the
financial aid available to them (Education Grants for Native American Students,
GoCollege.com). From this data one can also observe that the amount of Asian's
with a Bachelor's degree or higher is significantly higher than the other races.
Studies have examined the cultural beliefs/traditions of Asian's and their
parenting. Often Asian parents play an incredibly influential role in their
children's lives, they are very involved in their kids education and this results in
Asian children spending lots more time studying whilst other children are not.
One study found that Asian American 11th graders studied six hours more per
week than their white peers. According to other research, Asian's kids spend
much less time doing chores, part time jobs and dating (Seal, Asian American
Parenting and Academic Success, psmag.com).

What are some policies, organizations, or other practices that exist to

bridge this inequality?
For minorities there are many different college programs/ organizations.
Hispanics, who are a population who are least likely to attend or graduate from a
four year college, they tend to receive less scholarship and grant money than
other races. They are also usually first-generation students. Sallie Mae and the
Hispanic College Fund have created a program called The First In My Family
scholarship fund. This scholarship was created to help students from
underprivileged, backgrounds or who are the first generation going to college.
For Native Americans who are also considered a minority, The American Indian
College Fund, Indian Health Service and the US Bureau of Indian affairs all have
been known to help provide Native Americans with graduate and even
undergraduate scholarships and grants. Asian's are often incredibly smart and
have excellent work ethic, but cannot afford to attend the great colleges they
deserve to go to, some organizations such as the Asian Cultural Council, offers
grant money to asians in visual or performing arts. African Americans have also
been known to have less money, however lots of Public and even Private
organizations offer them specialized grants for students who choose to pursue
general college degrees. There are also 39 colleges which are known for it's
strong black community, many scholarships and grants are provided through
these institutions. There are all different kinds of organizations to help get
different races into college however I have observed that many institutions show
a great deal of inequity as there is much less organizations that support white
students to gain entry into colleges. Just as there are minorities that need help,
there are also white people who need help. There are often people who would be
classed as a minority who don't need help, just as there would be white people
who do need help.In my view there are lots of programmes that help other
minorities specifically. There are of course things open to all, such as FAFSA, that
white people can use to gain financial aid alongside anyone else who needs it.
But there is no specific programme or organization that is only available to white
students. In my view this is unequal, and means that some students from white

families may miss out on support that other minorities have the option of
receiving. Whilst the data shows that many of the minorities may need it,
because historically they have a lower rate of college attendance than white
people, this cannot be said to be completely fair as the data shows that asian
students have the highest rate of college attendance and yet they still have
programmes specifically aimed at helping them gain entry to colleges.
What do you propose we should do in order to bridge this inequity?
I believe we should educate students from a young age that college is an good
incredibly good option which results in getting higher paid jobs which will benefit
their families much more than going straight out of school into getting jobs. I
think also there should be much more organizations/programs helping all races
that need help, not just ones considered minorities or that scholarships should be
based off of merit alone.

Sources:
1. www.pewhispanic.org/2009/10/07/latinos-and-education-the-attainmentgap/
(Lopez, Latinos and Education, pewhispanic.org)
2. www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/03/03/283089708/hispanics-struggleto-graduate-an-issue-of-school-choice
(Ramos, Hispanics Struggle to Graduate, npr.org)
3. www.gocollege.com/financial-aid/college-grants/native-american.html
(Education Grants for Native American Students, GoCollege.com)
4. www.psmag.com/navigation/books-and-culture/asian-american-parentingand-academic-success-26053/
(Seal, Asian American Parenting and Academic Success, psmag.com)