Apr 09, 2017 10:01 PM EDT By Audri Taylors, UniversityHerald Reporter

Despite the constant increase in the cost of higher education, more and more Americans are able to earn a college degree. The number is significantly higher than it has ever been, according to the IUS Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau released a report Monday stating that 33.4 percent of Americans who are 25 and above have earned a bachelor's degree or higher, The Hill reported. This is a sharp increase from the recorded 28 percent 10 years ago.

Kurt Bauman, chief of the bureau's education and social stratification branch, said that this report is showing a significant milestone since the present population survey has ever started collecting educational attainment in the year 1940's, according to The Gazette, because in 1940, only 4.6 percent of the Americans were able to earn bachelor's degree.

The census has also shown that about 26 percent of the American are high school diploma holders, 21 have bachelor's degree, 9.3 percent have master's degree and 2 percent have doctoral degree.

When age was considered and compared, it was found that younger Americans were more likely to have pushed to attain a four-year degree than those who are in the older groups, because the ones who hold bachelor's degree are the ones who are in the ages between 25 to 37. And when those who are at 55 years and above, only 30 percent were found to have four-year degree.

The gap in educational attainment is also evident in racial lines according to the census. More white Americans who are non-Hispanic have a college degree than Hispanic Americans. Asian Americans were also more likely to have attained a degree in college. In fact, more than half of their population were able to finish a four-year degree program.

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