Fewer low- and moderate-income high school graduates are attending college in America, and fewer are graduating.

Enrollment in four-year colleges was 40% in 2004 for low-income students, down from 54% in 1992, and 53% in 2004 for moderate-income students, down from 59% over the same period, according to a report recently submitted to Congress by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.

If that trend has continued, low- and moderate-income students who don’t move on to college face an even darker outlook. The unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year olds averaged 17% in 2004, the jobless rate for people over age 25 with just a high school diploma averaged 5% the same year. So far this year, those figures have jumped to 25.8% and 10.6%, respectively.

College expenses and financial aid have become increasingly larger considerations for parents and students, driving more qualified students away from enrolling in four-year colleges.

The net price for attending a four-year public college in 2007 for a low-income student was $10,620 — 48% of family income — up from $7,570 — 48% of family income — in 1992. The cost for a moderate-income student increased over the same period to $14,650 — 26% of family income — from $8,790 — 22% of family income.

Among the students surveyed who had parents “very concerned” about higher-education finances just 66% applied to a four-year college. Some 90% of respondents with parents “not concerned” about finances applied to college. Fewer — 43% — with “very concerned” parents enrolled in a four-year college, compared to 88% that enrolled with “not concerned” parents.

Low-income students at four-year colleges were more than three times more likely than those at two-year colleges to earn a bachelor’s degree. Moderate-income students were almost twice as likely to earn the degree.

Persistence through four-year colleges dropped to 75% in students entering in 2003 for low-income students, down from 78% in students entering in 1995, while persistence for students from moderate-income families remained at 81%. Persistence rates for low- and moderate-income students in two-year colleges, however, fell 10 percentage points to 49% over the same period.

“These trends greatly undermine bachelor’s degree completion of high school graduates over the last two decades and, if unchecked, will take an even grater toll this decade,” the report states.

As the cost of attending college rises and as funding declines, federal policy should aim to improve academic preparation, enrollment and persistence through school for low- and moderate-income students, the study suggests. The committee also calls for increased state and institutional need-based grants.

“In light of these trends, recent progress in increasing need-based federal grant aid is encouraging, but must be greatly intensified and broadened,” the report reads.

The recommendation to extend aid offerings stems from strict financial aid policies and a heavier reliance on loans over the years, Gary Berg, dean of extended education at California State University Channel Islands, told Inside Higher Ed Wednesday. Low- and moderate-income students are less drawn to loans due to hesitations to take on debt, and middle- and upper-class students relied more heavily on financial aid by the end of the 1990s, whereas the proportion of low-income students taking out loans remained relatively steady.

The ACSFA report studied public institutions, but private universities offer aid to more low-income students, and receive a larger percentage of lower income applications, than public institutions, Berg said.

An economically disadvantaged student bears the added cost of potentially foregone wages in attending college, Berg says, but American colleges have yet to adapt to the schedule of the working student.

“Although we are fond in higher education of telling stories of individuals overcoming odds and moving up in society, as an overall pattern the great social mobility ideal of college is in some ways a tragic broken promise,” Berg said.

The disadvantage to low- and moderate-income students in higher education also reaches beyond just finances, says Berg, author of “Low-Income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality: Higher Education in America.” Students from disadvantaged economic backgrounds tend to struggle with writing assignments and challenging reading, and should be supported in university preparatory and bridge programs, Berg said.