LGBTQ POC report barriers to academic achievement

A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, conducted in collaboration with the Point Foundation, the nation’s largest LGBTQ scholarship nonprofit, finds more than twice as many LGBTQ POC as white LGBTQ adults report that unfair treatment at school due to being LGBTQ was a barrier to their academic success (10% vs. 4%).

Lifetime anti-LGBTQ bullying, harassment, and unfair treatment also kept them from getting the amount of education, training, or degrees that they wanted (15% vs. 7%).

Fewer LGBTQ people of color have completed a post-secondary degree or certificate by the age of 25 compared to their white LGBTQ peers (56% vs. 70%).

Using data from the Access to Higher Education Survey, a nationally representative study of adults ages 18 to 40, researchers examined the school experiences and higher education environments of LGBTQ people of color.

Results show that one-third (33%) of LGBTQ people of color received little or no information about college applications from high school counselors and teachers. More than onethird reported that they received little or no information about college entrance exams (41%), letters of recommendation (48%), or financial aid (41%).

“Our research shows that more LGBTQ people of color experience bullying, harassment, and assault in community college and four-year college than their non-LGBTQ peers of color, and at similar levels as white LGBTQ students. We also found that more LGBTQ people of color are first-generation college students and come from families that had fewer economic resources,” said lead author Kerith J. Conron, the Blachford-Cooper Distinguished Scholar and Research Director at the Williams Institute. “This means that colleges and universities need to improve educational environments and ensure that resources and support are in place for LGBTQ students of color—during the application process and upon admission.”

“Places of higher education are letting our students of color down,” said Jorge Valencia, Point Foundation Executive Director and CEO. “This study shows us that LGBTQ people of color are supported by their communities to achieve their educational dreams, but when they get there, students face mistreatment that hinders their mental health and ability to succeed. We need schools across the U.S. to make a stand for the success of our students of color.”

FROM STAFF REPORTS