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Large colleges taking fewer low-income, minority students
Saturday, November 25, 2006
DAYTON — Public flagship universities have faltered in enrolling and educating underrepresented minority students and those from low-income families, the Education Trust said in a new report.
In the past eight years, the number of poor students in the 50 states' flagship schools decreased from 14 percent to 9 percent, while the number of high-income students went up from 16 percent to 28 percent, Education Trust researchers found.
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And while 26 percent of high school graduates nationwide in the past five years were minorities, students of color in flagship schools account for only 12 percent of enrollment.
"Priorities have shifted away from students who absolutely need help to go to college and more towards those students who will go to college no matter what," said Kati Haycock, co-author of the report and director of the nonprofit group.
Haycock cited an increasing tendency of flagship schools to award financial aid based on academic merit instead of financial need, resulting in more grant aid going to high-income families rather than low-income families.
Between 1995 and 2003, flagship schools increased their aid to families with incomes of $100,000 or more by 406 percent, the trust found. During that same time, aid for families earning $20,000 to $39,000 grew rose 54 percent.
"More colleges are using their financial aid to buy students who will help them climb the college rankings ladder ... instead of cushioning low-income families against spiraling costs," Haycock said.
Ohio State University was commended by the trust for recent efforts to improve access to low-income and minority students.
Tally Hart, senior adviser for economic access at OSU, said the school found that the neediest students were taking on significant credit-card debt that contributed to them dropping out. It has since started to steer them away from high-interest loans.
Also, a special scholarship program gives a full ride to a needy, high-ability student in each of Ohio's 88 counties, Hart said.
Despite that, OSU earned a "D" grade for low-income access. Its minority access grade was slightly better, a "C."
OSU's strength is in what it does with the minority students it enrolls. It earned a "B" for graduating those students at 81 percent of the rate their white peers graduate.
The university has improved its four-year graduation rate for black women, from nearly 22 percent in 1999 to about 31 percent in 2005. The graduation rate for black men more than doubled, from 7 percent in 1999 to 16 percent in 2005.
"Ohio State is one of the institutions that really tried to begin turning the patterns around, but frankly the jury's still out" on whether or not efforts are working, Haycock said.
Education Trust has issued five reports recently evaluating schools' performance in educating underrepresented students.
It plans to extend the study to all colleges and universities nationwide.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7404 or sirwin@DaytonDailyNenDailyNews.com.
