Poll: Minorities More Likely to Say College Degree is Key to Success - Higher Education

Poll: Minorities More Likely to Say College Degree is Key to Success - Higher Education: U.S. minorities believe more strongly than Whites that young people need a four-year college degree toattain success, a new poll

shows. In addition, minorities expressed substantially more belief than Whites in the idea that the U.S. economy will benefit if President Obama’s goal of increasing the proportion of Americans with postsecondary degrees by 2020 is met.

Seventy-percent of Latinos, 61 percent of Asian Americans and 55 percent of African-Americans agreed with the statement that “young people today need a four-year college degree in order to be successful,” compared with 47 percent of Whites, according to a new College Board/National Journal Next America Poll.

Compared to 48 percent of Whites, the poll showed that 76 percent of African-Americans, 68 percent of Latinos and 63 percent of Asian-Americans believe the economy will benefit from meeting Obama’s goal of increasing the proportion of young workers with postsecondary degrees from 40 to 60 percent by 2020.