Gallup: College Graduates’ Well-Being Varies Widely by Race, Gender
By Allie Bidwell, Communications Staff
Despite the social and financial benefits associated with earning a college degree, few graduates are thriving in five different measures of well-being – and in some cases, minority graduates are worse off, according to a new survey released Tuesday by Gallup and USA Funds.
The survey builds off the recent Gallup-Purdue Index, which for the last two years has polled tens of thousands of adults who graduated college between 1940 and 2015. The central finding of the 2015 Gallup-Purdue Index was that few graduates said they strongly agreed that college was worth the financial investment.
The new report shows there may also be a disconnect between earning a higher education and thriving in purpose, social, financial, community, and physical well-being.
“Well-being is not only about being happy or financially successful, nor is it synonymous with physical health,” the report said. “Rather, it is about the interaction and interdependency between many aspects of life, such as finding fulfillment in daily work and interactions, having strong social relationships and access to the resources people need, feeling financially secure, being physically healthy and taking part in a true community.”
Overall, just 10 percent of college graduates surveyed were thriving in all five measures of well-being. When broken down by race and gender, black females are the least likely to be thriving in all five measures. Black females, at 27 percent, along with Asian males, at 26 percent, are also the least likely to be thriving physically, according to the report. By comparison, white females are the most likely to be thriving physically, at 36 percent. The data also show that black and Hispanic graduates, who are more likely to accumulate student loan debt, are less likely to be thriving financially than their white or Asian peers.
The report also sheds light on the type of work college graduates engage in after leaving school. Although more than two-thirds (71 percent) are employed full-time, only about one-third said they strongly agreed that college prepared them for life after graduation. College graduates are also slightly more likely than U.S. adults broadly (40 percent vs. 30 percent) to be engaged at work, which Gallup defines as being intellectually and emotionally connected to their work.
Still, white college graduates (41 percent) are more likely than black (34 percent), Asian (37 percent), and Hispanic (39 percent) graduates to be engaged at work. And for white, Asian, and Hispanic graduates, females are more likely to be engaged at work.
The new report, similar to the Gallup-Purdue Index, also focuses on how experiences can shape a student’s success and well-being after graduating. The 2014 Gallup-Purdue Index found that one factor that did not appear to have an influence on graduates’ well-being was the type of institution the graduate attended (public vs. private, more selective vs. less selective).
However, the new report found that the importance of different experiences – such as having support from a professor, or having an internship during college – can be seen specifically among black graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Although HBCUs are facing challenges in enrollment, retention, and graduation rates, they appear to do a better job of giving black students a better experience, the report said. Black graduates who attended HBCUs, for example, are more than twice as likely as other black college graduates to say they experienced all three support measures (having a professor who cared about them, having a professor who excited them about learning, and having a mentor who encouraged them to pursue goals and dreams). Black HBCU graduates are also more likely to be thriving in purpose and financial well-being than non-HBCU black graduates, the report found.
“Although there is considerable parity in the small percentages of graduates who are thriving in all five elements of well-being, examples of shortcomings and successes exist within every element,” the report said. “These differences shine an additional spotlight on the importance of college experiences to students’ lives after college.”
Publication Date: 10/28/2015
Joseph S | 10/28/2015 2:34:17 PM
A very good report and provides good material for study, review and evaluation, and discussion. What has changed so very much is that for many of the college students today, they assume that a door will be opened immediately upon graduation. That was not the thinking of some 20 or 40 years ago. Back then a collegiate education, other than the professional fields, was to "round one out" and prepare one for a better life. The expectation today is far too great and oftentimes unattainable based on the major area of academic study, which has often led to service learning programs, internships galore and more. based on one's observations in some 50 years of administration and dealing directly with students in a learning environment and part time jobs while they pursued studies, is the singular fact that those who applied themselves with study, hard work and wanting to learn the jobs they did, made the grade. And yes, mentoring students is important, regardless of diversity of the student. And finally, there is the persistence level of a student as he or she prepares to graduate and enter the "real world" and that real world is work. But with some sense of pride and observation of so many, i can readily say that a higher education has made the difference for so very many, but WHEN the student and graduate applies himself or herself.
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