The lack of access to technology and internet connectivity at home is especially severe among poor, rural, and minority students, according to a new survey from ACT’s nonprofit Center for Equity in Learning.
Based on a random sample of 7,000 students who took the ACT in 2017, the survey finds 14 percent of students have access to only one device at home, and 85 percent of those students are classified as “underserved"—defined in the report as economically disadvantaged, first-generation college students or people of color. By contrast, only 5 percent of students whose families make at least $100,000 a year and 7 percent of those whose parents have college degrees reported having a single device.
The report also finds more than half of students with only one device at home said it was a smartphone.
