Minorities Interested in Advanced Degrees Face Key Hurdles

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With U.S. unemployment at its lowest level in nearly 50 years, the importance of advanced degrees to obtaining good jobs may be growing. Will this leave some groups of young people even further behind in the career gaps? A new study of undergraduate college students attending colleges most likely to send students on for advanced degrees, conducted by Gallup for the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) found that while many black and Hispanic and first-generation college students aspire to advanced degrees, their interests in, reasons for and potential barriers to pursuing advanced degrees often differ from those of their counterparts.

	Likely to pursue an advanced degree	Undecided	Unlikely to pursue an advanced degree	Have never thought about an advanced degree
	%	%	%	%
Gender
Men	48	57	57	59
Women	52	43	43	41
Race/Ethnicity
Asian	16	14	10	15
Black	8	6	5	6
Hispanic	13	12	9	17
White	64	67	76	62
Total nonwhite	36	33	24	38
Parental education
Less than bachelor's degree	26	30	28	38
Bachelor's degree	33	39	42	40
Advanced degree	41	32	29	22
n=	15,850	2,405	3,196	650
Gallup

Undergraduate students at four-year institutions who say they intend to pursue an advanced degree are more likely than those who do not intend to pursue such a degree to be Asian, black or Hispanic. Specifically, 36% of those aiming to get an advanced degree are Asian, black or Hispanic, compared with just 24% of peers who are not considering an advanced degree.

Undergraduates likely to pursue an advanced degree are also more likely than their peers to have at least one parent with an advanced degree. Forty-one percent of these students have at least one parent with an advanced degree, compared with 29% of their peers who are unlikely to seek an advanced degree.

Results for this study are based on 22,189 survey responses from a nationwide study of undergraduates at four-year degree-granting institutions likely to have students who go on for an advanced degree. These results are part of a larger study -- Beyond the Bachelor's: Undergraduate Perspectives on Graduate and Professional Degrees -- conducted by Gallup for the AALS and the LSAC to understand the factors both driving and discouraging undergraduates when they are considering a graduate or professional degree.

Demographic Differences Play Role in the Types of Advanced Degrees Considered

The types of advanced degrees college undergraduates are interested in pursuing could help universities better understand how to foster attendance at postsecondary institutions. Master's degrees are the most sought after, with nearly two-thirds (63%) of those interested in advanced degrees considering MA/MS degrees, and about one-quarter (23%) considering an MBA. While one in three (34%) say they are considering a PhD, significantly fewer are considering professional doctorates of JD (15%) or MD (14%). Among students likely to pursue any advanced degree, Hispanic students (18%) are less likely than students overall (23%) to report considering an MBA, while more Asian students are considering an MBA (28%).

Smaller proportions of likely higher-education-bound first-generation college students are considering a JD (12%), MBA (20%) or PhD (32%) compared with students who have at least one parent with an advanced degree (18%, 24% and 37%, respectively). The lack of direct parental experience with higher education could have an impact on the belief of first-generation students that they can ascend to these levels of education.

	Undergraduates likely to pursue an advanced degree	Parental education			Race/Ethnicity
	%	% Less than bachelor's degree	% Bachelor's degree	% Advanced degree	% Asian	% Black	% Hispanic	% White
Master's degree (MA/MS)	63	65	63	63	62	60	64	64
Master of Business Administration (MBA)	23	20	24	24	28	22	18	23
Other master's degree (e.g., MPA, MPH, MSW, MEd)	10	11	10	10	8	13	10	10
Juris Doctor/Law school (JD)	15	12	13	18	8	16	15	16
Doctor of Medicine/Medical school (MD)	14	15	14	15	17	18	18	12
PhD	34	32	30	37	32	31	37	33
n=	15,829	3,797	5,308	6,656	2,477	822	1,496	10,698
Gallup

Barriers to Advanced Degrees Differ by Key Demographics

The cost of an advanced degree (68%) is the top reason that might prevent undergraduate students likely to pursue an advanced degree from pursuing one; however, cost is an especially significant barrier for black and Hispanic and first-generation college students. Three-quarters of black (77%) and Hispanic (75%) students, versus 58% of Asian and 68% of white students, cite high cost as one of the top factors discouraging them from attending graduate or professional school. Similarly, 76% of first-generation college students compared with 70% of students with at least one parent with a bachelor's and 62% of those with a parent who has an advanced degree cite cost.

Other top barriers to continuing their education mentioned by students likely to pursue an advanced degree include the long time needed to complete the degree (49%) and a poor work-life balance in jobs in the potential field (30%).

	Undergraduates likely to pursue an advanced degree	Parental education			Race/Ethnicity
	%	% Less than bachelor's degree	% Bachelor's degree	% Advanced degree	% Asian	% Black	% Hispanic	% White
Overall cost for me is too high	68	76	70	62	58	77	75	68
Time to complete is too long	49	49	50	49	45	39	42	53
Poor work-life balance in jobs in the field	30	29	29	31	29	30	31	30
Grad school is too hard/I would not do well academically	23	25	23	23	25	17	25	23
Too few jobs in the field pay enough money	21	22	21	21	23	22	21	20
Not interested in type of work	18	15	16	21	25	18	16	17
Little advancement opportunity in the field/Takes too long to move up	16	13	17	18	20	15	16	16
Someone in the field/ Professor advised me not to go	11	8	13	11	12	7	8	11
Work is not creative enough/too stringent	10	8	10	11	13	10	11	9
n=	15,333	3,720	5,190	6,387	2,408	800	1,461	10,363
Gallup

While these self-reported barriers exist, other barriers, such as access to and awareness of information, as well as available sources of advice about advanced degrees, influence the decision as well.

Although a majority of undergraduate students report that family members (56%) are the most important source for advice about pursuing a graduate or professional degree overall, they play less of a role for black and Hispanic students (48% each) and much less of a role for first-generation college students (38%), whose parents may not have the background and knowledge to help in this area. In contrast, the vast majority (70%) of students who have at least one parent with an advanced degree cite a family member or relative as an important source of information about further schooling.

	Undergraduates likely to pursue an advanced degree	Parental education			Race/Ethnicity
	%	% Less than bachelor's degree	% Bachelor's degree	% Advanced degree	% Asian	% Black	% Hispanic	% White
A family member or relative	56	38	52	70	57	48	48	58
Professors or staff at your college	50	50	51	49	46	42	50	53
Advisors or counselors at your college	50	53	50	47	44	54	49	51
People already working in the field/related field	40	41	39	41	37	39	37	42
A friend	16	17	15	15	21	12	14	15
University or college website, catalog or brochure	12	14	12	10	11	14	12	11
Other students at your college	11	12	11	10	13	9	12	10
Admissions staff or recruiters from graduate school(s)	9	10	9	7	10	16	10	8
n=	15,784	3,783	5,304	6,636	2,466	620	1,497	10,677
Gallup

With a lower reliance on family members, black and Hispanic undergraduates and first-generation college students need to rely on other sources of information, but they are also generally less likely than other peer groups to report seeing or receiving information from their school on all types of graduate and professional degrees. The biggest disparities in reports of seeing or receiving information on specific degrees between first-generation college students likely to pursue an advanced degree and those with a parent who has an advanced degree are for JD (27% vs. 40%, respectively), MBA (50% vs. 61%) and PhD (56% vs. 64%) and MD (48% vs. 56%) degrees, though differences exist for all degree types.

Black and Hispanic college students are less likely than their white counterparts to say they see or receive information on PhD, MD and JD degrees, as well as other master's and other professional degrees.

	Undergraduates likely to pursue an advanced degree	Parental education			Race/Ethnicity
	%	% Less than bachelor's degree	% Bachelor's degree	% Advanced degree	% Asian	% Black	% Hispanic	% White
Master's degree (MA/MS)	80	77	80	81	77	78	79	81
PhD	61	56	60	64	60	55	58	63
Master of Business Administration (MBA)	57	50	58	61	57	58	50	59
Doctor of Medicine/Medical school (MD)	52	48	51	56	48	51	49	55
Juris Doctor/Law school (JD)	34	27	32	40	28	31	31	37
Other master's degree (e.g., MPA, MPH, MSW, MEd)	29	26	28	32	26	27	26	31
Other professional degree (e.g., DDS, PharmD, DVM)	24	21	24	25	21	20	20	26
Gallup

Implications

The number of applicants to graduate and professional schools in the United States is generally strong, although there are times when applications for a specific field or degree are weaker, depending on economic or other factors (for example, law school was an exception earlier this decade, when it experienced a 38% decline in applicants). While there is some push in the greater business community to focus on job and life experiences rather than just a college degree, in the global-knowledge economy, there will be an increased number of jobs requiring graduate and professional degrees in the coming decades. If colleges and universities in the United States are to continue to perform effectively, now is the time to better understand the demand for advanced degrees.

Our study shows that some black and Hispanic students are highly interested in pursuing an advanced degree. This is noteworthy, given that the proportion of advanced degrees conferred on black and Hispanic students has risen over the past decade, and that these groups are still underrepresented in all advanced degrees conferred, particularly Hispanic students.

This study reveals that colleges and universities need to make stronger efforts to level the path to an advanced education for all students, including those whose parents do not have advanced degrees. Only 26% of undergraduates likely to pursue an advanced degree are first-generation college students, and these students may not have strong familial-based knowledge or pathways to support advanced degrees. To encourage more first-generation students to pursue advanced degrees, colleges and universities can make efforts to ensure that information distribution to undergraduates is received more equitably. Colleges and universities might consider expanding career and educational programs designed to increase knowledge of opportunities about graduate and professional school among first-generation and underrepresented minority student populations.

Read the rest of the Beyond the Bachelor's: Undergraduate Perspectives on Graduate and Professional Degrees report.