College Readiness by Income

Students from low-income families are more likely to be underprepared for college-level work than those from higher-income families. Only one in five high school graduates from families with incomes less than $25,000 were highly or very highly qualified for college based upon their secondary school curriculum, compared to more than half of graduates from families with incomes greater than $75,000.

Source: Boswell, Katherine and Wilson, Cynthia. Keeping America's Promise: A report on the Future of Community College. Education Commission on the States and League for Innovation in Community Colleges. 2004.