Report indicates increase in minority enrollment

The American Council on Education (ACE) released a study which found that the number of minority students attending college has doubled over the past 20 years.

The "Minorities in Higher Education Status Report" indicated that collegiate minority enrollment jumped from almost 2 million in the 1980-1981 school year to 4.3 million students in 2000-2001. This was the ACE's twentieth annual report on this issue.

"The goal is to put together in one place a report on higher education, where one can see what is the overall composition," said Dr. Eugene Anderson, Research Associate for the Office of Minorities in Higher Education (OMHE). "It's intended for use by all levels on campus [including] administrators making policy and students doing research."

The report studied all American high school graduates between ages 18 and 24. The United States Department of Education found that 15.3 million students sat in college classrooms in 2000-2001. Nearly 2.3 million minorities were in 4-year institutions, and almost 2.1 million enrolled in 2-year colleges.

"While the Minorities in Higher Education Report shows increases in the college participation and degree-attainment rates of African-American and Hispanic students, it also reveals persisting gaps and disparities in educational access, opportunity, and attainment between members of these groups and their white counterparts," ACE President David Ward said.

The report found 40 percent of African Americans and 34 percent of Hispanics attended college classes in 2000-2001. Forty-six percent of whites between 18 and 24 attended college classes the same year. The disparity between races enrolled in higher education was much larger in 1980-1981, yet the study found minority enrollment still lagging behind.

Yet at Tufts, diversity goals reach beyond race considerations. According to Margery Davies, Director of Office of Diversity Education and Development, "Race and ethnicity are definitely factors, but we would also consider nationality, geographic region, religious background, and to as much of an extent as we can, socioeconomic status."

"We [the Office of Diversity] don't really directly work with the admissions office, but with regards to diversity Tufts considers all of these factors," said Davies.

For students, a focus on diversity is one of the more attractive features of Tufts.

"It's a good thing because there's more diversity in schools," said first-year student Sarah Choi, "I wanted to go to college to meet people from different cultures and different backgrounds to develop myself culturally."

Tufts enrollment in a similar time span doesn't mirror the study's findings. While the number of Asian-American and Hispanic students has increased by hundreds of students between 1978 and 1998, African-American enrollment has remained the same.

The OMHE also released race-specific statistics. Between the 1980-1981 and 2000-2001 school years, black enrollment has increased 56 percent to 1.7 million. Hispanic and Asian-American enrollment both tripled, to 1.5 million and 1 million respectively.

African-American females had the most dramatic jump over the twenty years. In 1980-1981 only 24 percent took college courses while the number skyrocketed to 42 percent in 2000-2001. The gender gap within African-Americans is the largest of all races. African American women enrolled in schools at a rate nearly double that of their male counterparts.

The percentage of minority college students (28 percent) is actually higher than the overall percentage (23 percent) of minorities in the United States.

According to the OMHE website, the study collected data from varied sources including the Bureau of the Census, National Opinion Research Center, National Collegiate Athletic Association, US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, and National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

The "Minorities in Higher Education Status Report" includes over 50 patterns such as high school completion rates, college enrollment figures, and college participation rates in relation to race, ethnicity and gender. "The report consists of 31 tables and text that explains trends that one sees, but there's no hypothesizing," said Dr. Anderson.