The Southern Regional Education Board, an education policy research organization, released its SREB Fact Book on Higher Education, a report on the state of higher education in the 16 states that make up the Southern region (see the states).
The reports revealed 6 major findings:
-Most of the U.S. population growth over the next 20 years will be in the South.
More than half of the United States’ population growth over the next 20 years will be in      the 16 SREB states.
-Hispanic students represent the lion’s share of projected population growth.
Hispanics will account for 28% of the region’s high school grads by 2018. Black and Hispanic college enrollment levels are expected to increase to 44 percent by 2014 and to 48 percent by 2018.
-The percentage of Black college students finally exceeds the percentage of Blacks in the region’s population
Black undergraduate enrollment has risen 52 percent to 21% of total college student enrollment, while the Black population sits at roughly 19%. Nationally, the percentage of Black college students lags behind their population percentage.
-College enrollment rates of Hispanic students lags behind that of Blacks and Whites.
Despite the increase in number of Hispanic students, the college-going rate of Hispanic 18- to 24-year-olds (25 percent) lagged behind the rates for black students (33 percent) and white students (43 percent) in the U.S. in 2005.
-Women and minorities lead growth in degrees.
Women and minorities accounted for most of the SREB region’s increases in degrees awarded from 1995 to 2005, representing 69 percent and 42 percent, respectively, of the total increase in bachelor’s degrees.
-Increased minority college enrollment may threaten gains in educational attainment.
If the educational attainment levels of Blacks and Hispanics do not improve, the increases in minority student enrollment (and the resulting increase in the number of students in the region from middle- and lower income families), the rising cost of college tuition and the increase in the number of jobs requiring bachelors degrees may converge to cause a reversal of educational progress in the region. SREB predicts that “efforts to ensure that affordable college opportunities are available to all students will be increasingly important to the region’s and nation’s continued education progress”.
Other Interesting Findings
The majority of the Black student enrollment increases have occurred at public universities and two-year colleges, rather than at historically black institutions, which traditionally have educated the bulk of black students in the South. Black enrollment in historically black institutions has slipped from 26 percent to 19 percent over the last decade.
Reaction to the SREB Findings
None of SREB’s findings should come as a big surprise given all of the debate over immigration, which has unfortunately focused almost solely on Hispanics, and the debate over the No Child Left Behind Act, our president’s attempt at improving the educational opportunities and outcomes of the nation’s poorest students.
Additionally, the fact that more minorities and women are earning degrees and becoming more affluent is also nothing new.
Finally, the Board’s finding that more Black students are enrolling in colleges in the South are not surprising given that Blacks are relocating back to the South in record numbers, citing reasons that include lower costs of living and being nearer to family members (especially post-911 and Katrina).
The fact that most of the new enrollment is not going to historically black colleges is also no surprising, and not indicative of any decline in their quality or attractiveness. Instead, the numbers represent a move toward lower cost tuition.
Read SREB’s full report.
