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11 Facts About Higher Education

Between the years of 2000 and 2010, enrollment in postsecondary education rose 45 percent for full-time students.
1.6 million bachelor’s degrees were earned in the 2009-2010 school year. 1.1 million of those graduates were white (nearly 73 percent).
The most popular major programs in the 2009-2010 school year (based on those that earned bachelor’s degrees) were business, social sciences and history, health professions and related programs, and education.
Males with bachelor degrees in 2010 earned an average income of $49,800, compared to their female peers who earned $40,000 a year.
Males with just a high school diploma or equivalent had an average income of $17,000 less than those with a bachelor’s degree in 2010. Similarly, females earned an average of $15,000 less per year than their postsecondary grad counterparts.
In the 2007-2008 school year, more than 65 percent of undergads received some form of financial aid, which averaged $9,100 per student.
4-year institutions spent nearly $36,000 on each undergraduate student in 2009-2010.
The cost of tuition rose 42 percent in public institutions and 31 percent in private institutions between 2000-2011.
In the 2007-2008 school year, 9 percent of post baccalaureate graduates completed their entire programs online.
The immediate college enrollment rate of high school graduates from low-income families is 30 percent less than that of graduates from high-income families (82 percent).
Between 2003 and 2010, the rate of immediate college enrollment of high school completers by Asian Americans surpassed that of whites, blacks, and Hispanics every year.