Benchmarks Sidebar
Postsecondary Attainment by Race and Ethnicity
The share of adults with an associate or higher degree varies widely by race and ethnicity in the West. White adults, who represent a majority of the region’s adult population, had an attainment rate of 52% compared to the next largest population, Hispanic adults, who had an attainment rate of 23%.
Notes: Attainment levels are for adults ages 25-64. Data not available for the U.S Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2016-2020 American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata (PUMS).
For more information, please contact:
Colleen Falkenstern
Director of Evidence and Strategic Initiatives, Policy Analysis and Research
303.541.0313cfalkenstern@wiche.edu
Colleen Falkenstern serves as the Director of Evidence and Strategic Initiatives in WICHE’s Policy Analysis and Research unit. In her role, she leads the unit’s work on a range of postsecondary education data and research initiatives and the development of data resources to support better informed decision-making in the West. These resources include WICHE’s annual collection of tuition and fees data and WICHE’s quadrennial projections of high school graduates, Knocking at the College Door. In her time at WICHE, she has worked on projects supporting Native American Serving Nontribal Institutions, addressing healthcare workforce issues, better alignment between higher education and workforce, and postsecondary completion. She received a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from the University of South Carolina—Columbia and a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Denver.
