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Texas’ Education Challenge: A Demographic Dividend or Bust?

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Ten-Gallon Economy

Abstract

Texas is positioned to harness a demographic dividend—a productivity boost enabled by human capital investments in its outsized minority youth cohorts. To do so, I argue, Texas’ political leadership must act decisively and boldly to close achievement gaps along racial and ethnic lines and to raise college completion levels.

Drawing on selective national and international comparisons, I show that Texas is falling behind in college completion rates even as the statewide share of graduates continues to inch up. Racial and ethnic differentials are more troubling because the largest gaps correspond to the fast-growing Hispanic population. Underinvestment in higher education has created a college squeeze that will constrain Texas’ ability to harness a demographic dividend.

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Authors
  1. Marta Tienda
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Editor information

Pia M. Orrenius Jesús Cañas Michael Weiss

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© 2015 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

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Tienda, M. (2015). Texas’ Education Challenge: A Demographic Dividend or Bust?. In: Orrenius, P.M., Cañas, J., Weiss, M. (eds) Ten-Gallon Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137530172_5

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