In 1998, Hispanics continued to lag behind Whites and African Americans in high school completion. In that year, Hispanics trailed whites by more than 20 percentage points, and they trailed African Americans by more than 13 percentage points. Interestingly, the gender gap in the high school completion rate for both African Americans and Hispanics grew during the previous year. For African Americans, the gender gap for 1998 was nearly 11 percentage points, up from 6 percentage points in 1997. For Hispanics, the gender gap was nearly 12 percentage points in 1998, almost double the gap of the previous year. In both cases, females had a better school completion rate than males (Harvey).
In terms of college-age youth, the number of individuals in the Hispanic college-age population increased by 14 percent in 1998 since 1994. That compares with a 2.3 percent increase for African Americans during the same period. College participation rates among all high school graduates aged 18 to 24 remained largely unchanged at 45.3 percent in 1998. However, this rate has climbed considerably (13.9 percent) during the past two decades, with consistently small gains since the mid-1990s. African Americans and Hispanics continued to trail Whites in 1998 in the college participation rates for high school graduates aged 18 to 24. The rate for African Americans increased slightly to 40.6 percent, while the Hispanic rate declined nearly 2 percentage points to 34.1 percent. Both groups continued to show lower college participation rates than Whites, who posted a participation rate of 45.2 percent (Harvey).
Data for 1998 revealed that White, African American, and Hispanic female high school graduates aged 18 to 24 were more likely than their male counterparts to participate in higher education. The gender gap of 7.5 percentage points among Hispanics was the largest among the three groups in 1998 (Harvey).
More than 87 percent of African Americans aged 25 to 29 had completed four or more years of high school in 1998. This rate is similar to the educational attainment data for Whites. The proportion of Hispanics aged 25 to 29 with four or more years of high school increased by a full percentage point to 62.8 percent in 1998. However, Hispanics continued to trail Whites and African Americans significantly in this category (Harvey).
Even though African Americans have made important strides in closing the gap with Whites, in 1998 they continued to trail Whites in the number of individuals between the ages of 25 and 29 who have completed four or more years of college. The rate for African Americans of 15.8 percent in 1998 was barely half of the 28.4 percent rate among Whites. Among Hispanics, less than 10 percent of Hispanic males aged 25 to 29 completed four or more years of college in 1998. Based on these data, White men aged 25 to 29 were nearly three times more likely than Hispanic men to have completed four or more years of college (Harvey).
While all four major ethnic minority groups in the United States experienced enrollment increases at both two-year and four-year postsecondary institutions from 1997 to 1998, Hispanics recorded the largest increase of 4.3 percent for enrollment at four-year colleges and universities. That increase continued a period of enrollment gains for Hispanics. In the five-year period preceding 1998, Hispanic enrollment in higher education increased by more than 20 percent, the largest gain among the four major ethnic minority groups. Hispanic enrollment also has increased by more than 85 percent for the ten-year period ending in 1998. Also, while Hispanic men and women both gained ground in rates of graduation from Division I postsecondary institutions in 1998 (a graduation rate of 51 percent for Hispanic women, up from 47 percent the previous year, and 44 percent for Hispanic men, up by 1 percentage point), they still trailed the corresponding rates for Whites (Harvey).