BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Public indifference, adverse court decisions and unfair financial aid policies have kept black students from making progress in higher education in the past 20 years, according to a report the Southern Education Foundation released Tuesday.
In college enrollment and graduation rates, graduate school attendance and faculty diversity, blacks in Ohio, Kentucky and the South lag far behind whites, according to "Miles To Go."
The report studied 19 states, including Ohio and Kentucky, that once operated dual higher education systems. Those states now account for nearly three quarters of black first-year students in the nation's public universities.
The Southern Education Foundation, created in 1937, is an Atlanta-based public charity that advocates equity and quality in education in the South, primarily for black and poor citizens. The 18-month study found that:
Nine of the 19 states reported a drop in the proportion of black freshmen on public campuses between 1991 and 1996. Two states saw no change. In Ohio, 9 percent of students enrolled in 1996 as full-time undergraduates were black -- the same as in 1976. In Kentucky, 8 percent of full-time undergraduates were black in 1996, down from 8.2 percent in 1976.
In 13 of the 19 states, most black freshmen enrolled at historically black colleges and universities.
The representation of blacks among bachelor's degree earners barely budged in the past 20 years. About a third of blacks entering four-year institutions don't earn degrees within six years. In Ohio, 5.5 percent of bachelor's degree earners were black in 1995, up from 4.6 percent in 1976. In Kentucky, 5.3 percent of bachelor's degree earners were black in 1995, down from 5.4 percent in 1976.
The 19 states spent a third of their financial aid without considering financial need, compared with other states, which allocate 97 percent of their aid based on need.
Some Cincinnati-area educators say black students in their schools have made strides:
Black-student enrollment at the University of Cincinnati grew from 8.3 percent in 1988 to 11.5 percent in 1997, spokesman Greg Hand said. The number of black students earning degrees rose from 6.3 percent in 1988 to 7.9 percent last year, he added.
Northern Kentucky University's black-student enrollment has risen 119 percent since 1990, from 154 to 336, spokesman Rick Meyers said.
The 17 other states studied were: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
