fbpx

African-American College Graduation Rates Hit All-Time High. Why Are Economic Outcomes Still Lagging?

African-American College Graduation Rates Hit All-Time High. Why Are Economic Outcomes Still Lagging?

A student in the audience waves during First Lady Michelle Obama speech for the Tuskegee University Commencement ceremony in Tuskegee, Alabama Saturday May 9, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Education has often been called “the great equalizer,” but according to results from a recent study, that adage has not held true for Blacks in America. Despite phenomenal gains in educational attainment, Blacks still lag behind whites economically in most critical areas, MarketWatch reported.

Some of the alarming statistics the study found include: only 40% of Blacks own homes, the incarceration rate for Blacks is over 6 times higher than that of whites and Blacks are still 2.5 times as likely whites to live in poverty.

Blacks’ position in the economy are in sharp contrast to stats which show 92% of Blacks graduate from high school and more Blacks are receiving college degrees.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 39: Tunde Ogunlana

Jamarlin talks to family wealth advisor Tunde Ogunlana, CEO of Axial Family Advisors, about estate planning and Snoop Dogg’s comment that he doesn’t need a will (“I don’t give a f— when I’m dead. What am I gonna give a f— about?”). They also discuss the growing college debt bubble, whether more free tuition will help solve the problem, and why MBAs are like the bachelor’s degrees of 30 years ago.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop the economic outcomes for Blacks from being eerily similar to those in 1968, the year Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Systemic issues like predatory lending, racial discrimination in hiring and funding being cut for public education are among some of the reasons Blacks are having trouble achieving wealth equality with whites.

If systemic racism and oppression is America’s systems are not abolished, there is fear economic setbacks that rival those of Blacks during the Great Recession could be repeated.