For Immediate Release
Contacts: Kellee Edmonds or Tim McDonough
(202) 939-9365
Kellee_edmonds@ace.nche.edu
Tim_mcdonough@ace.nche.edu

Minority College Enrollment Surges Over the Past Two Decades; Students of Color Still Lag Behind Whites in College Participation

ACE's Minorities in Higher Education Annual Status Report Examines 20 Years of Postsecondary Data and Trends

(Washington, DC—Oct. 8, 2003) Total minority enrollment at the nation's colleges and universities surged by 122 percent over the past 20 years, up from nearly 2 million in 1980-81 to 4.3 million in 2000-01. Despite this significant gain, African Americans and Hispanics continue to lag behind their white counterparts in the percentage of college-age, high school graduates enrolled in college. These are just two key findings from the 20th anniversary Minorities in Higher Education Annual Status Report released today by the American Council on Education (ACE).

Although the rising enrollment numbers for students of color are encouraging, the gap among college participation rates for white, African-American, and Hispanic high school graduates has widened. In 1978-80, the college participation rate for all races was about 30 percent. However, in 1998-2000, the college participation rate of 18- to 24-year-old white high school graduates was 46 percent, compared with 40 percent of African Americans and 34 percent of Hispanics.

The Status Report, made possible by a grant from the GE Foundation, is widely recognized as the national source of information on current trends related to minorities in higher education. This annual report summarizes high school completion and college participation rates, college enrollments, educational attainment, and degrees conferred. William B. Harvey, ACE vice president and director of the Office of Minorities in Higher Education, is the author of the report.

The Minorities in Higher Education Annual Status Report analyzes data from the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"Our colleges and universities have experienced substantial gains in minority enrollment over the last 20 years, but there is still much more to be done," said ACE President David Ward. "We must redouble our efforts to improve the rates at which students of color enroll in postsecondary institutions if minorities underrepresented in higher education are to achieve parity with their white counterparts."

"The good news is that overall, more students of color are enrolling in higher education, showing the impact of focus and hard work over the past 20 years," said Marc Saperstein, president of the GE Foundation. "The bad news is that there are still major disparities in the participation rates. This is a core focus of the GE Foundation's education initiatives because we know that without further progress, we will not develop the strong, diverse workforce that is essential to our success as a society."

The ACE report also shows a significant decline in the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in education: down 2.5 percentage points from 1980-81 to 2000-01. A small increase in the number of minorities earning bachelor's degrees in education, 9.4 percent, was countered by a 20-year decline of 4.3 percent in the number of whites earning bachelor's degrees in education.

Among the key findings of the report:

High School Completion Rate

• The high school completion rate for African Americans increased from 68 percent to 76 percent over the past 20 years, while the rate for Hispanics has risen more slowly, from 55 percent to 59 percent.
  
  
• Strikingly, the high school completion rate for Hispanic men rose by only 1 percentage point in the past two decades, while the rate for Hispanic women grew from 57 percent to 65 percent.

College Participation and Educational Attainment

• Since 1978-80, the college participation rate increased by 14 percentage points for whites, 11 percentage points for African Americans, and 5 percentage points for Hispanics.
  
  
• African-American women remain much more likely than their male counterparts to participate in higher education. Two decades ago, 30 percent of African-American male high school graduates ages 18 to 24 were enrolled in college, compared with 28.4 percent of similar African-American women. Two decades later, 37 percent of African-American men were enrolled in college, compared with 42 percent of African-American women.
  
  
• For Hispanics, the college participation findings are dramatic. In 1978-80, 31.5 percent of Hispanic male high school graduates ages 18 to 24 participated in higher education, compared with 27 percent for Hispanic women. Twenty years later, the college participation rate for Hispanic males remained at 31 percent, but among Hispanic women, the number grew by 10 percentage points to 37 percent.

College Enrollment

• Total college enrollment grew steadily during the past 20 years by more than 3 million students, a nearly 27 percent increase.
  
  
• College enrollment among Hispanics and Asian Americans more than tripled from 1980-81 to 2000-01. African-American college enrollment grew by 56 percent and among American Indians, college enrollment grew by 80 percent.
  
  
• By 2000-01, women accounted for more than half (59 percent) of the total minority college population. Except for Asian Americans, women made up the majority of college students for each racial/ethnic group.

College Graduation Rates

• According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the overall six-year graduation rate for Division I institutions stood at 58 percent in 2001, a 4-percentage-point increase since 1991 and a 2-percentage-point increase since 2000.
  
  
• In 2001, the graduation rate for Asian Americans rose by 5 percentage points since 1991 to 66 percent. Meanwhile, the graduation rate for Hispanics rose by 8 percentage points since 1991 to 49 percent, while the rate for American Indians and African Americans was 41 percent, up by 10 and 8 percentage points, respectively, since 1991.

Degrees Conferred

• Students of color showed dramatic increases in degree attainment from 1980-81 to 2000-01. There was a 143 percent increase in associate degrees, a 164 percent increase in bachelor's degrees, and a 180 percent increase in master's degrees.
  
  
• Minorities went from receiving 11 percent of all bachelor's degrees in 1980-81 to earning 22 percent in 2000-01, and from 11 percent to 19 percent of master's degrees.
  
  
• historically black colleges and Universities (HBCUs) awarded more than 20 percent of all bachelor's degrees earned by African Americans in 2000-01. HBCUs conferred 25,090 bachelor degrees during that academic year.

Degrees Conferred by Field

• The number of education bachelor's degrees earned by minorities declined in the 1980s, but rebounded in the 1990s by 52 percent to yield a 9 percent growth rate between 1980-81 and 2000-01. However, the total number of bachelor's degrees awarded in education to all students declined by 2.5 percent because of a decline among whites during the 20-year period.
  
  
• The greatest growth in the past 20 years in bachelor's degrees among minorities occurred in business, which rose by 182 percent. During this same period, minority women increased their number of master's degrees in business by a staggering 670.5 percent, from 1,500 to 11,500. Men earning master's degrees in business grew a notable 230 percent, from 3,500 to 11,600 during the same period.

First-Professional and Doctoral Degrees

• Minorities were responsible for all of the growth in the last 20 years in the number of professional and doctoral degrees awarded. Minorities earned three times as many professional degrees and just over twice as many doctorates in 2000-01 as they did in 1980-81.
  
  
• Women experienced substantial gains in professional degrees and doctorates earned during the past 20 years. By 2000-01, minority women earned the majority of professional degrees and doctorates among minorities.

Employment Trends

• Minority faculty members have experienced steady growth during the past two decades, more than doubling their numbers to over 82,000 and increasing their share of total faculty positions from about 9 percent to 14.4 percent.
  
  
• Among full professors, minority representation more than doubled in the past 20 years, rising from about 7,600 to nearly 17,000. Whites, however, still hold more than 89 percent of the highest academic posts.
  
  
• Since 1993, the number of minority presidents increased by 78 positions, or 23.5 percent. The largest growth at the presidential level occurred among Hispanics--42.2 percent or 43 positions.

"The 20th anniversary Status Report challenges us to recognize the demographic, political, and social realities of the 21st century," stated Harvey. "The data tells us how far we have come in our quest for educational excellence for all students, but also caution us that equity in education for all Americans remains a goal that we must strive to reach."

For the second straight year, the Minorities in Higher Education Annual Status Report will include a CD-ROM containing the data files of charts suitable for use in spreadsheets. This year's compilation will include 20 years of data.

Copies of the 20th Anniversary Minorities in Higher Education Annual Status Report (Item # 309560) are available for $29.95 (plus $8.95 shipping and handling for orders up to $100) from the ACE Fulfillment Service, Department 191, Washington, DC 20055-0191 or by calling (301) 632-6757.

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Founded in 1918, ACE is the nation's largest higher education association, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents, and more than 200 related associations, nationwide. It seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives.

The GE Foundation (http://www.gefoundation.com), the philanthropic foundation of the General Electric Company, invests in improving educational quality and access and in strengthening community organizations in GE communities around the world. All told, GE, the GE Foundation, and GE employees and retirees contributed over $120 million to community and educational institutions last year.