Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

USF lags in student diversity

USF's black freshman enrollment is down 12%, even though 23% more were admitted than in 2005.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published August 29, 2006

TAMPA - University of South Florida officials recruited black students aggressively this year, admitting 23 percent more than in 2005.

The problem: Many of those students didn't show up Monday for the first day of class.

While the enrollment of other minority freshmen increased, the number of black first-time-in-college students at USF is down 12 percent from last fall, according to figures released late Monday.

Of the 3,987 freshmen who enrolled Monday, 301 were black. That included nine at USF St. Petersburg, up from seven black freshmen last fall.

This is the second year in a row that black freshman enrollment overall has dropped at USF, raising questions about what administrators can do to get admitted black students to actually choose the university over other schools that send them acceptance letters.

Black freshman enrollment at USF fell by more than 15 percent between 2004 and 2005, fueled largely by a decline in out-of-state minority students. Other Florida universities experienced similar declines.

"That's a very highly recruited population across the state and across the nation," said Leellen Brigman, USF's associate vice president for enrollment planning and management.

"African-American students are more likely to go out of state, because believe me, some of these other colleges out of state have a lot of money."

Last year's drop prompted USF officials to expand their high school visits and application mailings to students throughout Florida, with a concentration in the southern counties.

The result was that 150 additional black students, or a 23 percent increase, were admitted for this summer and fall.

The university also admitted 23 percent more Asians and 45 percent more Hispanics. That translated to about 950 more minority students than were admitted in fall 2005.

Asked whether she is disappointed that more black freshmen did not show up Monday, Brigman pointed out that 28 percent of the total student body is of an ethnic minority.

"I couldn't be more excited to be at a campus where that diversity is present," she said.

Brigman also chose to highlight the increase in black students at the graduate level, up 42 percent to 178.

"It's not down at the graduate level," she said. "It's up significantly if you look at that."

Those students helped boost USF's total black enrollment, graduate and undergraduate, by 2.3 percent compared with last fall.

Black students now represent 11.3 percent of USF's total population.

Hispanics represent 11 percent of the student body. Asian students make up 5.4 percent and American Indian students represent less than half a percent.

Brigman said she and other administrators will have to re-evaluate their efforts when looking to the future recruitment of black students.

"I think we have to step back and look at what is happening there with our African-American students," she said.

"My colleagues nationally are dealing with this, and I don't think we have an answer."

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3403 or svansickler@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 29, 2006, 00:59:27]