Minority Roll In Colleges Slips

January 05, 1986|By Nadine Epstein.

In 1968, Martin Luther King`s assassination threw the nation into racial turmoil that gave birth to college recruitment programs and increased federal funds for minorities.

Encouraged by these programs, America`s blacks began to attend college en masse. By 1976, 33.5 percent of blacks aged 18 to 24 were enrolled in college, a slightly higher proportion than whites, according to a report based on the 1983 U.S. Census that was prepared for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

But now the dream of equal access to higher education seems to be slipping away. From 1976 to 1983, the number of blacks in that age group attending college nationwide declined to 27 percent, a 19.2 percent drop, according to the report. This decline occurred in spite of the fact that in the same time period, 22.4 percent more blacks graduated from the nation`s high schools.

This trend also has affected Hispanics, though to a lesser extent. From 1976 to 1983, Hispanic college enrollment in the 18 to 24 age group dropped 12.3 percent while the number of Hispanics graduating from high school increased 28.8 percent.

Educators and civil rights activists across the nation are wondering what this means for America`s future. And many of them are asking: What happened?

One of the things that happened was that Uncle Sam cut back the amount of grant money available to low-income students, educators and students say.

``I wanted to go to college but the money wasn`t right,`` said Danny Patterson, a gas station attendant on Chicago`s South Side. ``Two of my older brothers went to college, but by the time I got into high school, my father had died and there wasn`t any more money.``

Studies show that poverty in black communities has grown, as has the proportion of blacks such as Patterson who grow up in low-income families that often are headed by women. As a result, blacks have become increasingly dependent on a shrinking pool of financial aid to cover the costs of ever-growing tuition.

Minorities have been the hardest hit by federal student aid cuts, according to the American Association of Colleges and Universities. The situation in Illinois is fairly typical. The number of minorities in Illinois who received aid in 1983-84 declined 12.4 percent since 1981-82, while the number of white students receiving aid remained the same, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

``As grants decline, there is more emphasis on loans,`` said University of Chicago professor Gary Orfield, considered one of the nation`s top experts on minority education. ``Minority students are much less likely to sign up for $20,000-30,000 in loans than whites. The more you shift into loans, the worse it gets.``

``For a family with no loan experience, the psychological step of signing on the dotted line is terribly frightening,`` said Steve Bellin, director of financial aid for the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Minority students often miss grant deadlines because they lack information about schools, he said. By the time they apply, the money is already allocated. Because their parents have not attended college, they don`t know how the application process works. They are dependent for information on overworked guidance counselors, teachers and recruiters at inner-city schools, Bellin said.

Some minority high school students who want to go to college do not even bother to apply to colleges because they are so discouraged by publicity about decreased aid, Bellin said.

Lack of money is not the only factor that has caused black enrollment to decline. Orfield said he believes colleges have become less sensitive to minority needs.

``After King was shot, administrators were sincerely moved to do something,`` he said. ``Now, some colleges just don`t try as hard as they used to.``

College entrance requirements are tighter and preferential admission programs for minorities are disappearing, automatically excluding the majority of blacks who attend high schools without adequate college prep programs, Orfield said.

Highly selective schools, such as the U. of C., have also experienced declining black enrollment. The 1980 freshman class at the U. of C. was 4.2 percent black, and the 1985 freshman class is 3 percent black, said Andre Phillips, assistant director of admissions there.

``Enrollment has decreased since more colleges are aggressively competing for the same first-rate minority students,`` Phillips said. ``Today, a top-notch minority student is flooded with offers of admission and scholarships. These students have more options, and they are exercising them.``

In searching to explain the disappearance of preferential admissions policies for average minority students, some authorities cite the 1978 Supreme Court ruling against fixed quotas for minority students in the case granting white applicant Allan Bakke admission to the medical school at the University of California at Davis.