Black Women Making Strides in Higher Education

Students cheers as the class of 2014 celebrate during the graduation ceremony at Howard University in Washington, on Saturday, May 10, 2014. Rapper and music mogul Sean Combs delivered the commencement address at Howard University on Saturday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Students cheers as the class of 2014 celebrate during the graduation ceremony at Howard University in Washington, on Saturday, May 10, 2014. Rapper and music mogul Sean Combs delivered the commencement address at Howard University on Saturday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The real good news, bad news.

No, black women are not the most educated group in the US, but we are making major strides in higher education.

There have been several articles circulating that claim black women are the most educated group in the US. As wonderful as that sounds, we must interpret the facts correctly.

A report released by the National Center for Education Statistics found that between 2009 and 2010, black women earned 68 percent of all associate’s degrees, 66 percent of all bachelor’s degrees, 71 percent of all master’s degrees and 65 percent of all doctorate’s degrees awarded to black students.

Who runs the world? GIRLS!

That very same report found that black students have more than doubled almost all of the degrees they earned between 1999-2000 and 2009-2010. In 10 years, associate’s degrees increased by 89 percent, bachelor’s degrees increased 53 percent, master’s degrees increased 109 percent and doctorate’s degrees increased by 47 percent.

Though these results show progression the battle is not over. According to the 2010-2014 American Community Survey black women hold 23.3 percent of black women hold a bachelor degree or higher in comparison to 38.1 percent of white women and 55.4 percent of Asian women.

Despite the survey one thing is certain, black women and the black community in general are making it a priority to get the education they have long been locked out of.