> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • The Evolution of Race in Admissions
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
News
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Black Students Have Less Access to Selective Public Colleges Now Than 20 Years Ago, Report Finds

By  Vimal Patel
July 21, 2020
Undergraduate students at the State U. of New York’s U. at Albany, which enrolls Black students at rates higher than their share of the state’s Black population.
Photo by Mark McCarty
Undergraduate students at the State U. of New York’s U. at Albany, which enrolls Black students at rates higher than their share of the state’s Black population.

Black students have less access to the most selective public colleges in the United States than they did 20 years ago, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Education Trust. The report stresses colleges will have to make major changes to meet growing calls for more inclusive campuses.

Lessons from Minority-Serving Institutions

How can all colleges better support students and promote equity? Join us for a free event on July 23, or watch later on demand.
Sign Up Now

The Education Trust, a nonprofit research organization, assigned a letter grade to each of 101 public colleges, depending on what share of their students were Black or Latino in 2017, compared with the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds from those demographic groups in each college’s state. A college that achieved diversity relative to its state population received an A. Poorly performing colleges — spoiler alert: most of them — received an F.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

Black students have less access to the most selective public colleges in the United States than they did 20 years ago, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Education Trust. The report stresses colleges will have to make major changes to meet growing calls for more inclusive campuses.

Lessons from Minority-Serving Institutions

How can all colleges better support students and promote equity? Join us for a free event on July 23, or watch later on demand.
Sign Up Now

The Education Trust, a nonprofit research organization, assigned a letter grade to each of 101 public colleges, depending on what share of their students were Black or Latino in 2017, compared with the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds from those demographic groups in each college’s state. A college that achieved diversity relative to its state population received an A. Poorly performing colleges — spoiler alert: most of them — received an F.

Colleges were thus rewarded in this measure for being in a homogenous state. For example, the University of Idaho received an A because 1.3 percent of its enrollment was Black in a state where 1.4 percent of college-age residents are Black. The University of Montana did even better in this regard: Just under 1 percent of its students were Black, while the state’s Black college-age population was only 0.8 percent. But those student bodies are hardly diverse.

What’s more instructive, in the report, is that most colleges failed. About half of colleges received passing grades for Latino-student representation, while less than a quarter did for Black-student representation. This is important because one way public colleges measure equity is by achieving an enrollment that mirrors the diversity of their state. By that standard, the report underscores that colleges have a steep climb ahead to meet the diversity and equity demands that they’ve faced for years and that have intensified in recent months.

“It is past time for public-college presidents to take substantive anti-racist action that matches their soaring anti-racist rhetoric,” said Andrew Howard Nichols, senior director of research and data analytics at the Education Trust and the report’s author, in a written statement.

ADVERTISEMENT

Here are five takeaways from the report:

1. Since 2000, the percentage of Black students has dropped at nearly 60 percent of the 101 institutions. Latino students have fared better. All of the selective public institutions have seen increases in their percentage of Latino students since 2000. Still, the gains at 65 percent of the colleges were less than the growth in their respective states’ Latino populations.

2. Colleges in states with large Black populations were the least accessible. More than half of the United States’ Black population is in 14 Southern states, and nearly all of the 32 colleges in that region received failing grades. “The three institutions without failing grades,” the report states, “were in Kentucky and West Virginia, which are the two Southern states with the lowest share of Black residents.”

3. Increasing access for Black and Latino students is a matter of will, the report argues, as the institutions studied have large endowments and the resources to improve access. The report offers 10 steps campus leaders and policy makers can take to improve student diversity. They include: Increase access to high-quality guidance counselors, use race more prominently in admissions decisions, increase aid to Black and Latino students, and reduce the role of standardized testing.

4. State demographics matter. The report notes that the University of California at Berkeley’s 4.3-percentage-point increase in Latino undergraduates since 2000 — from 10.4 percent to 14.8 percent of overall enrollment, in rounded figures — looks good until you consider that the Latino population in California increased at more than three times that rate.

ADVERTISEMENT

5. Though many institutions earned high grades in the report because their states lacked diversity, a handful of institutions earned A grades and were in states with relatively robust minority populations. For example, about 16 percent of New York’s college-age population is Black while about 17 percent of students at the State University of New York’s University at Albany are Black. Leaders credit the university’s success to aggressive recruiting, dedicating resources to mentoring first-generation and underrepresented students, and creating support programs to make students feel welcome.

Students who have good experiences at the university spread the word to their communities, said Michael N. Christakis, Albany’s vice president for student affairs. “Success breeds success,” he said.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Diversity, Equity, & InclusionAdmissions & Enrollment
Vimal Patel
Vimal Patel, a reporter at The New York Times, previously covered student life, social mobility, and other topics for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
    Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Blogs
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
  • The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
    The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
    Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin