The number of degrees awarded to students of color in Boston, MA is significantly lower than that of students in Dallas, TX. With higher academic institutions on practically every corner of Boston, one would think that it is likely for there to be more room for diversity in said institutions. However it is important to first take into account the general racial makeup of either city.
As of 2019, there is a White non-Hispanic majority in Boston, Massachusetts, contrasting with Dallas, Texas' White hispanic majority via Data USA.
Ethnic Groups in Boston, MA (left) and Dallas, TX (right)
Next, it would be beneficial to factor in how many foreign-born residents there are in either city, because attending school in the United States as an international student is a common feat. However, this is based purely on personal assumption and deduction.
In Massachusetts (note: note specifically in Boston), there are more immigrants from China, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic than any other country. It can be noted that China, the leading origin of immigrants in 2019, had been claimed the birthplace of 109,953 Massachusetts residents. In Texas (note: not specifically in Dallas) the leading birthplaces of residents are Mexico, India, and El Salvador, with Mexio-born residents making up 2,429,667 of Texas's population. So already, we see here that there is a major gap in population size, according to Data USA.
Because there is such a vast disparity between the amount of Mexico-born residents and India and El Salvador-born residents of Dallas, it would be beneficial for us to consider the amount of students are are in both Dallas and Boston.
Global Diversity (Foreign Born Residents) in Boston, MA (left) and Dallas, TX (right)
According to the Vera Institute of Justice, 172,200 immigrants in Dallas are students–however, it should be notes that this statistic is representative of students in pre-K all throughout college and graduate school in 2019.
Statistic from Vera Institute of Justice
Massachusetts has a total of 73,695 international students as of 2020 according to Open Doors Data.
Open Doors Massachusetts Fact Sheet
With this context in mind, we can now apply what we know about the rough makeup of Boston and Dallas, and the factors that may play into the racial and ethnic makeup of students who have received degrees in either city. Once again referring to Data USA's data sets, we can see that White students make up 55.6% of the total amount of students who are awarded degrees in Boston with a total of just over 19,000 degrees awarded. Asian students follow at 12.5% – a staggering difference of about 4,000 degrees awarded. On the other hand, only about 4,000 degrees were awarded to Hispanic and Latino students in Dallas, leading with 33.7% of the total amount of degrees awarded. White students in Dallas follow with 3,500 degrees awarded, despite non-Hispanic Black or African American people making up 24.3% of Dallas's population, second to the non-Hispanic White population.
Graduated Students' Race and Ethnicity in Boston, MA (left) and Dallas, TX (right)
There is a clear disparity in degrees awarded to people of color according to data published in the last few years, despite there being a considerable amount of people of color in both Boston and Dallas.
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