(Name-mce) ListServ The nation's 50 flagship universities serve disproportionately fewer low-income and minority students than in th

[bill at billhowe.org]

 <http://www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/Press+Room/Engines+of+Inequality.htm>
http://www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/Press+Room/Engines+of+Inequality.htm

 

 

Engines of Inequality: Diminishing Equity in the Nation's Premier Public
Universities

 

The nation's 50 flagship universities serve disproportionately fewer
low-income and minority students than in the past, according to a new report
by the Education Trust.  Students in the entering and graduating classes at
these schools look less and less like the state populations those
universities were created to serve.  The study shows how financial aid
choices made by these prestigious public universities result in higher
barriers to college enrollment and success among low-income students and
students of color.

 

The report, "Engines of Inequality: Diminishing Equity in the Nation's
Premier Public Universities," documents in great detail how flagship and
other "research extensive" universities contribute to serious inequities in
higher education and exacerbate disturbing trends in financial aid policy at
the state and federal levels.  In an unprecedented study of financial aid
practices at these institutions, the report illustrates how flagships have
reallocated financial aid resources away from the low-income students who
need help to go to college - mostly to compete for high-income students that
would enroll in college regardless of the amount of aid they receive.

 

"At a time when more and more low-income and minority students are preparing
for college, it is disturbing that many of our most prestigious colleges and
universities are turning away from them," said Kati Haycock, director of the
Education Trust and a co-author of the report.  

 

"Engines of Inequality" also includes a report card for each state's
flagship institution, typically the state's oldest and most prestigious
public university. The report cards grade each campus on: access for
low-income students; access for minority students; and gaps in graduation
rates between groups. In addition, the report cards indicate whether these
institutions are becoming more or less representative of their states over
time. 

 

Several universities - including West Virginia University and the University
of Vermont - received high marks for providing access to minority students;
others - including the University of California Berkeley and the University
of Massachusetts-Amherst - received high marks for attracting low-income
students. As a group however, most schools posted dismal grade point
averages, and the situation is getting worse.

 

"Given their special role in developing their states' future business,
academic and political leadership, leaders of flagship universities should
feel a special obligation to provide opportunities for talented state
residents of all races and economic groups," said Danette Gerald, the
report's other co-author.  "But over time, that obligation has been replaced
by the relentless pursuit of increased selectivity and ever-higher
rankings."

 

Between 1995 and 2003, flagship and other research-extensive public
universities actually decreased grant aid by 13 percent for students from
families with an annual income of $20,000 or less, while they increased aid
to students from families who make more than $100,000 by 406 percent. In
2003, these institutions spent a combined $257 million to subsidize the
tuition of students from families with annual incomes over $100,000 - a
staggering increase from the $50 million they spent in 1995.  At the same
time, poor students were disproportionately bearing the brunt of increased
college tuition and fees. 

 

These types of choices at the flagships have resulted in undergraduate
populations that are less and less and reflective of the states these
institutions were established to serve. For example, though minority
students comprise more than 35 percent of Georgia's high school graduates,
they represent less than 7 percent of the entering 2004 freshmen at the
University of Georgia.  Even more alarming, this underrepresentation is
actually getting worse at most flagship campuses. The report documents
similar trends for low- and middle-income students, who are being displaced
at the flagships by students from the most affluent families.

 

"The shifting of financial aid resources away from students who genuinely
need more support shows that these schools are not merely victims of bad
choices by policymakers or bad preparation in K-12. The data make it very
clear that these universities are independent actors in shrinking
educational opportunity in their states," Haycock said.

 

Inadequate financial aid may be one reason why, at most flagship
universities, students from underrepresented minority groups are also
graduating at rates significantly below their white counterparts.  At
flagship universities as a whole, minority students graduate at only
84percent of the rate of white students - a 58percent graduation rate for
minorities compared to a 69percent rate for white students.  Here, too, some
universities, for example the University of Florida and the University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill, are doing a better job than others in making
sure that students get through with a degree.  

 

Recently, a few flagship universities have announced new efforts to expand
access or success for low-income and minority students.  They include Ohio
State University, highlighted in the report, and the Universities of
Maryland, Minnesota and Virginia, which have launched initiatives to provide
more financial support to low-income students.

 

"These institutions should be applauded for taking the lead," Gerald said.
"But one or two new programs won't do the trick.  They and the general
public need to remain focused on the numbers and not rest until the patterns
change."  

 

The report calls on board members and presidents at each of the nation's
flagship universities to review their own policies and take steps to fulfill
their obligation to develop the broadest range of their states' top talent.
The report's recommendations include:

 

*	Examine data on how well each of their institutions serves the
state's citizenry and set stretch goals;

 

*	Focus on graduation rate gaps between different groups of students,
and graduate those students that are admitted; 

 

*	Reallocate their own institutional aid dollars to provide the bulk
of their tuition assistance to students who can't afford to go to college
without it.

 

"The flagships occupy a special place in cultivating the next generation of
leaders in their states. With their special status comes a special
responsibility to combine excellence with equity," Haycock said. "The
flagships need to reaffirm their historic commitment to opportunity and set
a new course."





Bill Howe 
 <http://www.billhowe.org/> http://www.billhowe.org

 
Past-President 

National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME)
 <http://www.nameorg.org/> http://www.nameorg.org

 

 

 

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