Report Finds Minority Ranks Rise Sharply on Campuses

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2004 — The number of minority students attending American colleges and universities jumped 48 percent in the 1990's, with all minorities posting double-digit gains in college enrollment, according to a study by the American Council on Education.

The study, which analyzes statistics from the United States Department of Education, the census and other government sources, found that despite the greater numbers of minority students in college, blacks and Hispanics lagged behind whites and Asian-Americans in graduating.

It also found a widening gender gap in college attendance among African-Americans.

The council, which represents 1,800 institutions of higher education, called for a "sustained national effort" to improve the success of minorities in higher education, and urged its members to prepare minority children in middle schools and high schools for college.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't take our human and educational assets into the community," said William B. Harvey, director of the council's Office of Minorities in Higher Education. "If you're an institution of higher education, you have an obligation to be interested in the development of young people from underserved communities. That's your contribution to the common good."

The report offered a broad look at members of minorities in education, including high school graduation rates, attendance at public and private universities, and college professorships and doctorates awarded.

It found that total minority enrollment in institutions of higher education had increased to four million in 1999 from 2.7 million in 1990, with gains of 68.3 percent among Hispanics, 31.6 percent among blacks and 58.9 percent among Asian-Americans.

The report did not, however, explain the degree to which increases in the total student-age population during the 1990's lifted enrollment figures.

From 1990 to 2000, the share of African-Americans in the 24- to 29-year-old group with college degrees rose to 17.5 percent from 13.4 percent. Among Hispanics in the same age group, 9.7 percent earned college degrees in 2000, up from 8.1 percent in 1990.

While the report showed college participation rates seemingly unchanged among African-Americans from 1999 to 2000, the numbers masked a growing distance in college enrollment between black men and women. College attendance among African-American women under 25 increased 4 percent that year, to 43.9 percent, but declined for men by 5 percent, to 33.8 percent. In a single year, the report noted, the gender gap among African-Americans increased to 10 percent from 1 percent.

"It's an issue we have to investigate, and ask why," said John Garland, president of Central State University, a historically black institution in Wilberforce, Ohio. Dr. Garland noted that among whites and Hispanics as well, the share of women pursuing higher education was outpacing that of men.

Joseph Viteritti, a professor of education at New York University, said the report's findings on minority participation in college were "encouraging," but he said he was troubled by graduation rates of 38 percent for black and Native American college students, and 46 percent for Hispanics.

"Even though they're getting into college at a higher rate," Dr. Viteritti said, "they're not getting out at the rate they should." By way of comparison, among whites, 59 percent graduate within six years of enrolling in college, while 66 percent of Asian-Americans do so.

On campuses today, "There's a lot of effort to bring in a more diverse student body, which is admirable," Dr. Viteritti said. "But if the kids don't have the skills to do well, they get discouraged and drop out."