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Universities see drop in out-of-state minorities

However, in-state minority enrollment has increased.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published December 8, 2005

Officials already knew that the number of African-American students entering Florida's public universities was down this fall.

What they didn't know was that the dropoff was entirely due to a decline in out-of-state enrollment. The number of in-state enrollments actually rose slightly.

A new breakdown of the numbers indicates that the number of in-state black students at the 11 schools increased by 1.3 percent from 2004 to 2005, while the number of out-of-state black student enrollment dropped more than 14 percent.

The analysis is causing admissions officers to look at the issue from a different perspective.

"Now that we know that the decline is in out-of-state students, it will dramatically shape the response," said Bill Edmonds, spokesman for the Board of Governors, which oversees the university system.

"There are a lot of questions, the most fundamental one being, is it a problem or not if you have a decline in out-of-state students when your responsibility is to the citizens of your state?"

A task force created to explore minority enrollment issues will examine that question, among others. The state university system access and diversity team, created by the Board of Governors at its Nov. 17 meeting, is expected to make its first report in January or February.

The study shows that the out-of-state decline was more pronounced at the undergraduate level, where there was a 15.4 percent decrease.

Further analysis by the group found that while the overall number of in-state black students rose by 490 since last year, 524 fewer students from other states are enrolled this year.

"We have an increase in in-state minority enrollment, but it isn't big enough for us to say it's as good as we should be doing," said task force chairwoman Sheila McDevitt. "We have not gone backward, and for that I feel pretty good. But we certainly want to do better."

The university system has a goal for increasing access for minority students, but its strategic plan makes no distinction between in-state and out-of-state students, McDevitt said.

And while committee members already have agreed that their principal objective is to increase the number of in-state minority students, they recognize the importance of recruiting students from other states to ensure geographic diversity, she said.

Attention to minority enrollment has been ramped up since 1999 when Gov. Jeb Bush gave an executive order that ended the use of race as a factor in university admissions. But while in-state undergraduate African-American enrollment has increased by 40 percent since the One Florida initiative was created, out-of-state enrollment has declined by nearly 29 percent.

One point on which officials agree after studying the new analysis is the need for more financial aid for out-of-state students, said Board of Governors chairwoman Carolyn Roberts. In 2000, the average credit-per-hour fee for nonresident students in Florida's universities was $323.39. This year, the per-hour fee for nonresident students is $530.18, a 64 percent increase.

That adds up to about $7,000 per semester for out-of-state students like Jessica Harrison, a freshman at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. The New York resident graduated from high school with a 3.7 grade point average and is relying on loans to pay her tuition while she pursues scholarship options.

Harrison, 18, is living with her grandparents to save housing costs. She said she "felt shaky" when she first arrived on campus and found she was among a very small cadre of African-American students, but she is determined to graduate from USF.

"I tell my friends (in New York) there aren't a lot of minority students on campus," she said. "But I tell them I'm going to stay."

Since last year, the number of in-state African-American undergraduate black students at USF has increased 2.7 percent, but out-of-state black students declined by 12 percent. The number of black freshmen dropped by almost 15 percent.

Jim Mallach, who is in charge of USF's enrollment management and planning, said the school has been concerned mainly with recruiting students from within the state. But the new data may cause officials to investigate their out-of-state minority recruitment efforts, Mallach said.

At Florida State University, out-of-state black undergraduate enrollment dropped more than 27 percent, while in-state enrollment rose almost 5 percent.

"I think there is a great crush of students who want to be educated in their home state," said John Barnhill, FSU's director of admissions and records. "The more out-of-state students we have, the less room there is for Florida residents."

Depending on out-of-state students to reflect diversity is "not good policy," said Barnhill, because a public university's primary mission should be toward the residents of its state.

Janie Fouke, provost and senior vice president at the University of Florida, agrees that a state university's first responsibility is to Florida students. But, she said, UF relies on out-of-state students, including African-American students, to give it the numbers it needs. "Certainly, the other side of the coin is having a greater population of underrepresented students for the role they play on behalf of the majority students," Fouke said. "From that standpoint, it doesn't matter so much where they come from."

UF went against this fall's trend by increasing out-of-state undergraduate black enrollment by nearly 20 percent. In-state undergraduate black enrollment rose nearly 2 percent.

Identifying programs that are successful in attracting minority students is exactly what the access and diversity team will strive to do, said McDevitt, the chairwoman.

In some cases, McDevitt said, programs could reach down to the middle school level to get underrepresented students thinking about college before they reach high school. It also could mean encouraging university foundations to provide scholarships to assist with both in-state and out-of-state tuition.

"What we want to do is have more of these students qualifying so we'll be able to provide more opportunities," McDevitt said. "These outreach programs have become just as important as the out-and-out recruitment and retention programs."

[Last modified December 8, 2005, 01:13:20]