Articles

Black males increase at Black colleges

Category: 'Y' Published on Thursday, 15 October 2009 09:40 Written by Courier Newsroom

NEW YORK––African-American male admissions, enrollment and retention rates at public Historically Black Colleges and Universities have increased in both undergraduate and graduate disciplines according to the Demographic Report, produced by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

The study reports that overall African-American male graduate degrees conferred have increased by 36 percent for all Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields over the past 10 years. Additionally, Hispanic males in STEM have doubled.

The report offers a comprehensive look at the impact that public HBCUs and universities make in their local, regional, statewide and national communities.

The study, led by Strategic Research Analysts; Olivia Blackmon and Director of Research, William Huit, Ph.D. Blackmon is viewed as the leading source for information annually on the public HBCUs beyond the IPEDS data, the report is an in-depth, critical source for grant writing, research and studying trends for new program development.

The detailed report is organized around 15 disciplines. Some areas of note include: Enrollment, Retention and Dropouts, Student Employment, Faculty, College Cost, Financial Aid, Expenditures, Alumni Contributions, Private Support, Technology and School Reform.

A 20-year trend analysis on new areas of interest is incorporated in the report including: Admissions; Enrollment; Retention and Degrees Conferred (with special emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Education). Additionally, this year’s report offers perspective on progression in the areas of: Education majors, Online Learners, Study Abroad Programs, Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation and Going Green Initiatives.

“The data presented in this study serves as a blueprint to guide researchers, philanthropists, the higher education community and HBCU scholars on emerging trends in the HBCU arena,” said Dwayne Ashley, President & CEO, Thurgood Marshall College Fund. “Most importantly, the information is designed to offer comprehensive perspective on what areas we’ve strengthened in as well as the areas of opportunities to better engage our students.”

Highlights from the study include:

•Member institutions are attracting and retaining African-American males; the schools have experienced an increase in applications, admissions and enrollment rates:

•65 percent overall increase in African-American male graduate enrollment.

•23 percent overall African-American undergraduate enrollment increase. By comparison, more men tend to enroll in full-time undergraduate and graduate coursework, compared to their female counterparts. Roughly, 85 percent of all males were enrolled full-time and 15 percent were enrolled part-time. Black and Hispanic male enrollment has increased over the last 20 years, while White male enrollment has decreased as a portion of overall enrollment.

•Men composed 74 percent of the undergraduate engineering enrollment and 82 percent of the undergraduate engineering degrees conferred. Men also composed over 56 percent of the graduate degrees conferred, including 74 percent of engineering doctorate degrees.

•Men outnumber women in pursuit of graduate degrees in the STEM disciplines by 19 percent.