Flagship universities lag in serving low-income students
According to a recent report, our nation's flagship public universities are not doing enough to serve academically qualified low-income and minority students. In Opportunity Adrift: Our Flagship Universities Are Straying From Their Public Mission, the Education Trust examines the patterns of access and success for minority and low-income students in public research institutions across the United States.
On access, the analysis finds that:
- Although minority students represented 29 percent of the high school graduates in 2007, they represented only 13 percent of the 2007-2008 freshman class at flagship universities. That percentage represents a 1 percent increase in minority student enrollment from 2004.
- From 2004 to 2007, the enrollment of low income students at flagship universities declined from 22 percent to 20 percent. In fact, 33 percent of students who receive Pell grants (the main federal grant program for low-income families) enroll in two-year institutions and only 14 percent enroll in private colleges.
- In many cases, the states' private institutions are more diverse than their public institutions. In Colorado, 13 percent of students at the University of Denver are minority students, compared to 9 percent at University of Colorado at Boulder. Fifteen percent of University of Denver students received Pell grants as compared to 14 percent at CU-Boulder.
Regarding the college success of low-income and minority students, the report finds that:
- Between 2005 and 2008, flagship universities reported an improvement in graduating their minority students. In 2008, minority students graduated at a rate of 87 percent of the rate of white students. Notably, graduation rates were higher across all reported race and ethnic groups in 2008 compared to 2005.
- Pursuant to a new federal law, four-year colleges and universities are beginning to collect data on the graduation rates for low-income students. The data thus far available indicate that Pell grant recipients graduate at a lower rate (61 percent) from flagships than do non-recipients (72 percent).
One step that universities can take to increase access and success is to improve their financial-aid policies. Research shows that financial aid has little impact on the success of high-income students but does increase the likelihood that low-income students will graduate. Yet more than 60 percent of institutional aid dollars at public colleges and universities as a whole are distributed without regard to financial need.
In fact, the amount of financial aid to students from families earning $115,000 or more increased 28 percent, from $283 million in 2003 to $361 million in 2007. At the same time, the unmet need among low-income students is significant. Even after all grant aid is included, the typical low-income student is left with unmet need representing almost 70 percent of their family's annual income.
The message is clear: Too many state public research universities are not serving the students within their borders. According to the report, these institutions need to aggressively compete for low-income and minority students, and state policymakers need to ensure that they do so.
– Debra Judy