Narrowing the Racial Equity Gap in Bachelor’s Degrees
In The News Piece in Inside Higher Ed
April 6, 2023
Ivy Love was cited in an article by Inside Higher Ed about the potential for community college baccalaureate programs to drive racial equity in higher education.
“I think the value proposition from these programs is that you can stay local. In some cases, students are attending part-time so they can continue working,” Rios-Aguilar said.
Ivy Love, a senior policy analyst with New America, a liberal Washington think tank, said her research has found that Florida residents see a big boost in earnings if they complete a community college baccalaureate program. Considering all areas of study, those with a baccalaureate degree earned about $10,000 more than those with just an associate degree, Love said. Her research found “a pretty racially and ethnically diverse group of students who graduate from these programs in Florida,” adding that about half are age 30 or older.
While many more of these programs exist in Florida—the report counted over 150 in Florida compared to 15 in California—Love said those enrolled still make up a small percentage of all community college students in Florida.
Read the full article here.