The enrollment rates of minority students at universities nationwide climbed steadily in recent years, according to a study released Monday by the American Council on Education, a national education organization. However, officials at UW-Madison and elsewhere say more needs to be done to increase college participation among students of color.
ACE figures showed that minority enrollment rose by 3.3 percent from 1998 to 1999, the latest academic year for which data are available.
Minority enrollment increased by 48 percent in the 1990s, the study also showed.
William B. Harvey, vice president and director of the Office of Minorities in Higher Education at the ACE and author of the report, applauded the growth in college diversity. But he noted that the rate of minority enrollment still lags behind white enrollment.
\They're not anywhere close to being good enough,"" Harvey said of the recent statistics. ""They need to rise.""
Paul Barrows, vice chancellor of student affairs at UW-Madison, said minority enrollment at UW-Madison is lower than the national average and should increase to the standards set by Plan 2008, the school's diversity initiative.
He also suggested several reasons why minority enrollment lags at UW-Madison: Wisconsin's ""lily-white"" population, underachieving K-12 school districts and a disproportionate number of minorities in the penal system.
Barrows said he believes UW-Madison minority enrollment will rise with continued recruiting efforts.
Luoluo Hong, who will begin her term as UW-Madison dean of students Nov. 1, said that while minority enrollment growth is encouraging, she is more concerned with improving the level of comfort students of color feel on campus.
""What's important to me is the qualitative experience ... Numbers are only one small indicator [of improvement],"" she said.
Harvey listed several reasons for the increase in minority enrollment. Recruitment efforts and student financial aid have seen steady increases in the past decade, Harvey said, but the growth of minority enrollment can be greatly attributed to the growth of the minority populations as a whole.
According to the study, college enrollment by Hispanics rose 4.7 percent in 1998-'99. African American enrollment rose 3.3 percent; Asian Americans, 2.9 percent; and American Indians, 1 percent.
But the study also showed that students of color continue to be under-represented in degree attainment. In 2000, they earned 21.8 percent of all bachelor's degrees rewarded; however, they accounted for more than 28 percent of all undergraduates.
Barrows said UW-Madison's minority retention rates are above national averages.
According to the report, 43.3 percent of all high school graduates, ages 18-24, attended college in 2000, a 0.2 percent decline from 1999.
