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.

An alarming trend is emerging on college campuses around the country.

Men are disappearing!

The number of men on college campuses has been on the decline since 1979.  Currently, the average college student body is 42% male and 58% female.  On campuses such as the University of San Francisco, the numbers are even more shocking; only 37% male!

To make matters worse, educators and researchers alike believe the trend will continue based on the fact that young girls perform better in both elementary and high school, are more likely to be a member of an honors society, more likely to be valedictorian, and more likely to be accepted into top-tier colleges.

Boys, on the other hand, appear to be getting the message that college is not cool.  Researchers speculate that the influence of sports and entertainment figures, many of whom skipped college and went on to become millionaires anyway, on young boys and men is to blame for fewer men choosing to attend college.

Other speculate that a lack of interest in scholarly subjects and parental expectations have also lead young men to opt out of college.

The influence of these and other factors on male college attendance is even greater in African-American and Hispanic communities; the ratio of women to men attending college is nearly 2 to 1!

Many sociologists are concerned about the societal implications of this imbalance.  Others are concerned that colleges will establish covert affirmative action programs to admit more male applicants than female applicants, despite their relative qualifications.  The latter fear is echoed by high-achieving young women and their parents.

Building on President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law that put standardized testing into public K-12 schools, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings wants to make sure the billions of taxpayers’ dollars that support colleges and universities are well spent. More than that, she sees government as a protector of education “consumers.”

Spellings has proposed assessments for colleges.  These assessments would ensure that colleges were providing students a quality education, one that would not only lead to a degree, but also ensure that students had the skills needed to compete for jobs in the global economy.  Additionally, colleges failing to earn a certain score or meet a certain standard could be cut off from their life’s blood–federal financial aid.  Schools who consistently fail to meet standards would not be able to offer financial aid to students, potentially leading top students to attend rival colleges.

Currently, students and parents rely on magazine and web rankings of colleges to identify colleges to which they will apply.  These rankings are largely based on the schools’ reputations, features or benefits identified by the schools, and/or the votes of students and faculty; not on whether or not the students actually graduate, or whether they have the skills required to fill jobs in the local or global job market.  Spellings proposes to position assessment scores as competitors, or at least counterpoints, to magazine and web rankings.  All college assessment scores will be published on the web to allow students to compare them to those provided by other publishers.

While educators aren’t in love with rankings published by U.S. News & World Report (the publisher of the most influential rankings), they are equally leery of Spellings’ proposal of college assessments.  The contention appears to center on just how strict the standards might be, and the consequences of failure: Some colleges will go under, and/or be forced to turn away talented students from low-income families because they would not be able to offer financial aid.

Spellings insists that published assessment scores will create transparency and accountability.  Her goal appears to be two-fold:  Help students select colleges that actually prepare them for success, and ensure that taxpayers’ dollars are not wasted.

Negotiations begin again April 24, with the federal rules expected to take force by July 2008.Related Article

Several states and individual high schools have begun working to pass bills that would require that all high school seniors complete at least one college application in order to graduate. Several schools in Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland and Maine already require that seniors complete a college application, create portfolios and transition to college/career plans, and/or be accepted to a community college in order to graduate.

Recently, House Speaker Glenn Cummings (D-Portland) of Maine proposed a bill requiring every school in the state to impose the college application requirement.

Read the full story.