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Being a Minority in College or University High school graduation rates among African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have been increasing over the past decade. However, enrolment of these minority groups in public, baccalaureate degree granting institutions has never been proportional to their presence in the high school population, and college graduation rates continue to lag behind those of Anglo's (Richardson, 1990). In 1993, the disparity in college entrance rates (including community colleges, junior colleges, and universities) for Anglo and African American high school graduates was 13 %; the disparity was 8 % for Anglo and Hispanic high school graduates. In 1994, the disparity in degree completion (including associate, bachelor of arts or science, and graduate or professional degrees) between Anglo and African American students was 16 %; between Anglo and Hispanic students the disparity was 18 % (National Educational Goals Panel, 1995). Community colleges that have higher numbers of Latinos, African-Americans and women have lower transfer rates to four-year universities than other community colleges. That is according to a report released this month by the state Senate Office of Research, "A Quantitative Study of California Community College Transfer Rates: Policy Implications and a Future Agenda. " The study was completed by a public policy instructor at CSU Sacramento. "The data tell us these three groups are more likely to be facing some impediments to academic achievement, " said Sen.
John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, and chair of the Senate Select Committee on College and University Admissions and Outreach. "I urge community colleges to examine what obstacles may be facing these student groups in continuing to four-year universities. " The study was based on a six-year enrollment period among students who were pursuing baccalaureate degrees. It focused on students whose attendance records indicated their goal may have been to transfer to a four-year university. Among other things, the report found Latino and African-American students tended to be part-time students, work more hours per week, have family obligations and have limited access to information about college or transfer opportunities. It also found community colleges with higher transfer rates tend to have younger students, students with higher socioeconomic backgrounds and better academic preparation. Also, colleges with higher percentages of Asian-American students, those located in urban areas and those that had a high number of liberal arts / science and general studies majors tended to have higher transfer rates. The drop-off in the educational attainment of African Americans and Hispanics is, at times, extreme.
For example, data reveal that of 100 African American children who start high school, only 86 graduate. Of 100 African American high school seniors, only 10 go on to receive a bachelor's degree. Further, from 1975 to 1990, Ph. D. s awarded to African Americans dropped slightly, from 999 to 828.
African Americans garnered just 3. 5 % of all doctorates in 1990 (Thurgood & Weinman, 1991). At The Ohio State University, despite many innovative recruitment initiatives and support services, the graduation rates of African Americans and Hispanics have continued to be about half that of Anglo students over the past fifteen years. This pattern is common in many public universities (Sailes, 1993). Student transition from school or work to college is a complex and challenging process.
Many experiences are common among first-time freshmen, such as confusion over the enrollment process, concerns about finances, and the need to balance their lives in and away from college. Nevertheless, there can be striking differences in the transition process for White, Black, and Hispanic students. These commonalities and differences have implications when designing and developing strategies to facilitate students' transition to college, implementing intervention techniques to improve retention, and creating professional growth opportunities to help faculty and staff understand more fully the challenges students face. This study evolved from a presentation at the College of Lake County, a comprehensive community college located in a northern suburb of Chicago, in January 1993, in which Claude Steele, a professor of social psychology at Stanford University, outlined several themes that have emerged from his research. He believes that there is a "deepening crisis in the education of Black Americans" (Steele, 1992, p. 68). He explains, "From elementary school to graduate school, something depresses Black achievement at every level of preparation, even the highest" (Steele, 1992, p. 70).
He noted in his speech that the grades Black students earn the first semester of college quickly fall behind those of White students with similar standardized test scores. In sum, "the same achievement level requires better preparation for Blacks than for Whites" (Steele, 1992, p. 70). Data from the College of Lake County's longitudinal student database support Steele's theories. The Gpa's of Black students are consistently below those of White and Hispanic students, and Black students tend to have a lower ratio of credit hours earned to credit hours attempted.
Black students fall behind White students as early as their first semester of enrollment. In addition, a larger percentage of Black students than is represented in the student body place into developmental education upon initial enrollment at the college. This is also true of Hispanic students. A review of the literature on the subject of student transition to college revealed that the majority of the existing research has been conducted on students at four-year colleges and universities. Tinto's (1975, 1986, 1993) model of student persistence, which has been tested primarily with students at four-year colleges and universities, emphasizes the importance of academic and social integration within the college community. He argued that students who were more involved and connected to their classes, fellow students, and campus were more likely to persist.
Similarly, those students who perceived that they did not fit in were more apt to leave the institution. Tinto described students who experienced feelings of incongruence as "individuals who perceive themselves as being substantially at odds with the institution" and referred to isolated students as those who were not involved in any part of the college (Tinto, 1993, p. 50). According to the literature on students at four-year colleges and universities, feelings of incongruence or isolation can have a significant impact on first-year students' adjustment to college life. Although most students experience occasional feelings of loneliness and rejection during their college experience, these issues can be more significant for minority students. Steele (1992) claims that Black students have additional burdens in relation to Whites when they begin their first year of college. He believes that feelings of incongruence and isolation are more likely because Blacks remain devalued in American schools and must continue to face and fight against negative stereotypes related to their intellectual ability.
Allen (1996) studied Black students at predominantly White universities and also concluded that isolation and alienation are serious problems for these students. Hurtado, Carter, and Spuler (1996) believe that similar negative forces face Hispanic students as they make their transition to college. Because the first year is most difficult, racial and ethnic tension can negatively affect Hispanic students' personal and social satisfaction with college. Hurtado and associates surveyed Hispanic students in four-year colleges in 1991 to learn more about the factors that affect their adjustment to college.
Although several factors influenced their persistence, the support of family and maintenance of social relationships were positively associated with academic adjustment. On the other hand, Hurtado and associates noted that these Hispanic students were more likely to feel like they did not fit in at four-year colleges "where they perceive a climate where majority students think all minorities are special admits" (1996, p. 152). The researchers claimed that these types of negative stereotypes were difficult to dispel because they were less overt but still existed. A study by Nora and Rendon (1996) of 227 Hispanic students at three Texas community colleges provided different results: Neither perceptions of social integration nor academic integration affected their retention. The perceptions expressed by students reinforced the importance of helping the college faculty and staff understand the varying nature of the transition process. College staff who interact with students must be aware of the different issues students bring to college and use that knowledge to improve support to students.
Customer service can be enhanced by helping staff understand the complex challenges some students face as they enter college, for example, their lack of understanding about some of the processes of application, assessment, advising, counselling, financial aid, registration, textbooks, syllabi, and faculty hours. Bibliography: Astin, A. W. (1993). What matters in college?
Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Bandura, A. (1989). Regulation of cognitive processes through perceived self-efficacy. Developmental Psychology, 25, 729 - 735. Castle, E.
M. (1993). Minority student attrition research: Higher education's challenge for human resource development. Educational Researcher, 22, 24 - 30. House, J.
D. (1992). The relationship between academic self-concept, achievement-related expectancies, and college attrition. Journal of College Student Development, 33, 5 - 10. National Educational Goals Panel. (1995). The National Educational Goals Report. Washington, DC: National Educational Goals Panel.
Richardson, R. C. (1990). The state role in promoting equity. Denver: Education Commission of the States. Sailes, G.
A. (1993). An investigation of black student attrition at a large, predominately white, midwestern university. Western Journal of Black Studies, 17, 179 - 182. Stage, F. K. (1989). Motivation, academic and social integration, and the early dropout.
American Educational Research Journal, 26, 385 - 402. Thurgood, D. H. , & Weinman, J. M. (1991). Summary report, 1990: Doctorate recipients from United States universities. Washington, DC: National Academic Press.
Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2 nd ed. ). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hurtado, S. , Carter, D. F. , & Spuler, A. (1996) Latino student transition to college: Assessing difficulties and factors in successful college adjustment.
Research in Higher Education, 37 (2), 135 - 157. Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities. Journal of Higher Education, 68 (6), 599 - 623. Nora, A. , & Rendon, L. (1996). Hispanic student retention in community colleges: Reconciling access with outcomes.
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Rendon (Eds. ), Racial and ethnic diversity in higher education (pp. 269 - 280). Needham Heights. , MA: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing.
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Research essay sample on Being A Minority In College Or University
