Beyond Percentage Plans: The Challenge of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education

(Staff Report)

Chapter 4

National Trends in College Enrollment

In each of the three states reviewed for this report, percentage plans failed to significantly increase enrollment for all minority groups, particularly at the most prestigious state institutions. Moreover, national data reveal that these three states are not an anomaly, minority enrollment indeed is leveling off. Fear exists among many students and educators that programs that give minorities and low-income students equal access to higher education will be eliminated and that gains minority students have made will be reversed as more states move away from affirmative action.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ENROLLMENT

As figure 4.1 demonstrates, prior to the bans on race-based admissions, there was a steady increase in overall minority enrollment in undergraduate programs over a 25-year period, particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s. In keeping with population trends, non-Hispanic white students make up the majority of college students, 67 percent. However, the gap between minorities and nonminorities has narrowed since 1976, when white students composed more than 80 percent of college students. Today, black non-Hispanic students make up 12.2 percent, Hispanic students make up 11.5 percent, and Asian Pacific American students make up 5.2 percent of college enrollments (see figure 4.2).

Figure 4.1
Racial/Ethnic Composition of Postsecondary Enrollment, 1976–99

Note: The numbers of American Indian/Alaska Native students are too small to show on the graph. In 1976 they made up 0.7 percent of student enrollment, and in 1999 they made up 1 percent.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2001, ch.3, table 207.

Figure 4.2
Percentage Distribution of Undergraduates by Race/Ethnicity, 1999–2000

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Profile of Undergraduates in U.S. Postsecondary Educational Institutions: 1999–2000, Statistical Analysis Report, July 2002, p. iv.

Only 2 percent of postsecondary students are visiting noncitizen students, and another 5 percent are noncitizen permanent residents of the United States. Ten percent of students are citizen children of foreign-born parents. Approximately 13 percent of undergraduate students speak a language other than English at home, the largest proportion of whom speaks Spanish (43 percent).[1]

Enrollment also varies within racial and ethnic groups. For example, among Hispanic students, more than half (55 percent) reported being Mexican American or Chicano, 15 percent reported being Puerto Rican, 4 percent Cuban, and the remaining 27 percent of other Hispanic ethnic identity. Among Asian American students, the breakdown is as follows: 25.1 percent Chinese, 13.1 percent Korean, 12.8 percent Vietnamese, 11.2 percent Japanese, 11.0 percent Asian Indian, 10.5 percent Filipino, 2.9 percent Thai, and 13.1 percent of other ethnicity.[2] This distinction reflects the need for targeted outreach and recruitment, and illustrates that the notion of the “overrepresented” Asian American student is not true for all subgroups.

Among postsecondary students, most racial and ethnic groups are roughly at parity with representation in the general population, with the exception of Asian Pacific Americans who are slightly overrepresented, depending on subgroup. Differences appear, however, when refining the analysis to traditional college-age students (ages 18–23). As table 4.1 illustrates, non-Hispanic white students are overrepresented among undergraduate students, while black and Hispanic students are underrepresented. Data indicate that white students are more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to be enrolled in postsecondary education at the traditional age of enrollment. Minority students are less likely to enter college right after high school; employment or other factors that limit full-time attendance may account for a more protracted period of educational pursuit. The average age of African American and American Indian students is higher than the average age of all undergraduate students.[3]

Table 4.3 illustrates that white and Asian American students are more likely than any other group of students to attend a four-year institution. African American, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students are more likely to attend public two-year institutions or private commercial institutions, the majority of which offer programs that are two years or less, such as vocational certificates. For the 1999 academic year, minorities composed 24.8 percent of all students enrolled in four-year institutions and 33.4 percent of those enrolled in two-year institutions.[4]

Institutional selectivity also has an effect on educational outcomes. Researchers have noted that attending a selective program can influence future career aspirations, pursuit of graduate education, earning potential, and other success measures.[5] A study of full-time, first-year students at four-year colleges and universities found that black students are more than three times as likely to be enrolled in the least competitive institutions compared with the most competitive.[6] Conversely, Asian American students are more than six times as likely to be enrolled in the most competitive institutions as in those that have noncompetitive admissions policies. White students tend to be most represented among institutions classified as highly competitive, very competitive, and competitive (see table 4.4). This finding validates the concerns expressed by some scholars that the more selective institutions become, the less likely they are to recruit and admit minority students and those from lower socioeconomic classes.[7] Further, from these data it can be surmised that disparities in access have led to a form of “ ‘educational segregation’—the differential clustering of students in institutions by race, gender, or socio-economic status.”[8]

GRADUATE/PROFESSIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT

Similar patterns of minority enrollment exist at the graduate and professional levels. As figure 4.3 illustrates, there has been an overall increase in the enrollment of students of color in graduate schools over the last 25 years. In 1976, minority students made up 10.8 percent of the graduate students enrolled in institutions of higher education. By 1999, the percentage had nearly doubled to 21.3 percent.[9] Yet, minorities remain more underrepresented in the graduate student population than among undergraduates. In 1999, the demographic composition of graduate students was as follows: 78.7 percent white, non-Hispanic; 9.3 percent black, non-Hispanic; 5.7 percent Hispanic; 5.6 percent Asian Pacific American; and 0.6 percent American Indian/Alaska Native.[10] These numbers reflect a significant underrepresentation of African American and Hispanic graduate students in particular, as compared with their representation in the national population.

Figure 4.3
Racial/Ethnic Composition of Graduate Students, 1976–99

Note: The numbers of American Indian/Alaska Native students are too small to show on the graph. In 1976 they made up 0.4 percent of graduate student enrollment, and in 1999 they made up 0.6 percent.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2001, table 208, pp. 242–43, compiled from Higher Education General Information Survey, “Fall Enrollment in Colleges and Universities” and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, “Fall Enrollment” surveys.

Similar underrepresentation exists in law schools, where in the 1999–2000 academic year minority students made up 21.6 percent of the law student population (see figure 4.4). Minority students are better represented in the field of medicine, making up 31.5 percent of the students enrolled in medical schools in 1999–2000, largely due to the high representation of Asian Pacific American students (17.3 percent). Hispanic and black students are both significantly underrepresented in the fields of law and medicine compared with their representation in the general population.

While blacks compose 12.3 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 7.3 and 7.2 percent of law and medical students, respectively. Hispanics compose 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, but only 5.7 percent of law students and 5.4 percent of medical students.[11] Particularly in the field of medicine, where cultural and linguistic competency is critical, there is reason to be alarmed by the striking absence of minority students, and further research examining the reasons behind such disparities is critical.

Figure 4.4
Professional Degree Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity, 1999–2000

 The category of “Other” includes American Indian/Alaska Native and nonresident alien students.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2001, table 278, compiled from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, “Completions” survey.

CONCLUSION

As the data demonstrate, national trends in postsecondary education reveal continued disparities in higher education, despite the improvement made as a result of affirmative action programs. While the numbers of college students of color increased significantly in the 1990s, minority students remain underrepresented in the most selective undergraduate institutions, those that offer four-year degrees, and in graduate and professional schools. Significant enrollment disparities among population subgroups persist.

National postsecondary education data demonstrate alarming trends. It is clear that equal access to education has not yet been achieved. Moreover, recent challenges to longstanding affirmative action policies, which allow such factors as race and ethnicity to be considered in the admissions process, may cause “doors leading to certain higher education institutions . . . to close altogether for some students.”[12]