The Chronicle: Daily 10/30/2006 :Minority Enrollment Grew by More Than 50% From 1993 to 2003

Monday, October 30, 2006
Minority Enrollment Grew by More Than 50% From 1993 to 2003, Report Says
By JANE R. PORTER
Washington
Minority-student enrollment at colleges and universities increased by 51 percent in the decade ending in 2003, an improvement driven by growth in the number of Hispanic and minority-female students, according to a report scheduled for release today by the American Council on Education.
The report, "Minorities in Higher Education: Twenty-Second Annual Status Report," includes data on rates of high-school completion, college enrollment, college graduation, attainment of professional and doctoral degrees, and employment in higher education. It uses data collected by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Over all, the number of minority students on American campuses grew by 50.7 percent during the decade, totaling 4.7 million undergraduate and graduate students by 2003. During the same period, the number of white students increased by 3.4 percent, reaching a total of 10.5 million white students in higher education.
Although the report notes rising enrollment and degree-attainment numbers for minority students, it says the proportion of African-American and Hispanic students enrolled in college was still not as high as that of white students. While 47.3 percent of white high-school graduates ages 18 to 24 attended college, 41.1 percent of African-American graduates and 35.2 percent of Hispanic graduates continued their education, according to data from 2002 to 2004.
Hispanic students accounted for the largest increase in undergraduate enrollment among minority groups, rising nearly 70 percent from 1993 to 2003. By contrast, African-American enrollment increased by 42.7 percent, Asian-American enrollment went up by 43.5 percent, and the number of American Indian students rose by 38.7 percent.
The increase in the number of Hispanic students in higher education can be credited mainly to overall population growth among Hispanics; the proportion of Hispanic high-school graduates ages 18 to 24 attending college increased only slightly from 1993 to 2003.
Hispanic students had the greatest increase in the rate of high-school completion over the 10-year period, with growth of 7.8 percent. White and African-American students' graduation rates went up by 2 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.
According to the report, Hispanic students made up 41 percent of the decade's new minority students, compared with 37 percent who were African-American. The enrollment of students whose race and ethnicity were unknown increased by 114 percent, accounting for more than one million students.
The report attributed two-thirds of minority enrollment growth to women, with improvements in male enrollment trailing behind for all minority groups. Women earned 61 percent of new associate degrees, 58 percent of new bachelor's degrees, and 59 percent of new master's degrees.
At the doctoral level, the greatest increase in the number of degrees earned by minority students occurred in the health professions, up by 223.6 percent; in the physical sciences, up by 95.3 percent; and in education and the biological and life sciences, each up by more than 80 percent.
Minority faculty numbers increased by 50 percent from 1993 to 2003, rising from 65,000 to more than 97,000. That increase was led by Asian-American and Hispanic faculty members, with the number from each group rising by more than 60 percent in the 10-year period.

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