The Mystery of the Missing Data

This week the Census Bureau released 2009 data on school enrollment. Once again I have to lament the loss of Table 14, which the bureau "eliminated" (yes, that's how the Census Bureau describes it) from its school enrollment tables beginning in 2006.

Table 14 gave us this: "Enrollment Status of Dependent Primary Family Members 18 to 24 Years Old by Family Income." This table revealed the yawning gap in college enrollment by family income. The last time the bureau published the table, with data for 2005, the numbers showed that 80 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds from families with incomes of $100,000 or more were enrolled in college. Among those from families with incomes below $50,000, the figure was just 33 percent. We no longer can get this information from the Census Bureau. Why?

Source: Bureau of the Census, School Enrollment