MU gets ‘D’ on minority issues

Fewer than half of all low-income college students in Missouri who receive financial aid through the federal Pell Grant program attend MU, underscoring the university’s failure to attract low-income and minority students, according to a national study on equality in higher education.

The study, released Monday by the Education Trust, compared the flagship universities in each of the 50 states. MU received an F for both accessibility to minorities and low-income students; the campus received a B grade for graduating minority students once they enroll. Overall, the school earned a D grade. None of the 50 flagship campuses earned an A.

Despite efforts in recent years to be more inclusive, MU is especially lacking when it comes to attracting low-income students. Most Missouri recipients of Pell Grants ­— the nation’s largest need-based financial aid program — go elsewhere, according to the study.

“They’re not the lowest,” said Kati Haycock, director of the Education Turst, which is based in Washington, D.C. “But they’re definitely bottom 10.”

The study, “Engines of Inequality,” compared enrollments at the flagship campuses to the demographics of graduating high school seniors in each state. In Missouri, minority students made up around 15 percent of the graduating high school class of 2004. That fall, however, minorities accounted for less than 9 percent of all incoming MU freshmen.

The problem, said Ann Korschgen, vice provost of enrollment management, is how high schools prepare minority and low-income students for college. Last year, she said, about 560 African-American students statewide scored a 22 or higher on the ACT. A score of 24 results in automatic admission at MU.

“The simple fact of the matter is it’s a numbers game,” said Jeffrey Williams, director of access and urban outreach at MU. “Not a lot of African American or Hispanic youngsters meet our admission requirements.”

This year, according to the Division of Enrollment Management, MU enrolled 355 first-year African-American students, not including transfer students. The university has a total of 1,548 African-American students, an 11.8 percent increase over 2004 enrollment. Hispanic student enrollment also rose during that time, from 444 to 498, a 12.2 percent increase.

Williams said MU continues to take steps to increase minority enrollment, especially by helping black and Hispanic students become better prepared for college. Williams pointed to “Mac Scholars,” in which MU, in partnership with Columbia Public Schools, hosts a two-week institute during the summer months. About 80 students have visited MU over the last two years to learn about academic preparedness, financial aid and other would-be barriers to receiving a college education. The Mizzou Urban Scholars Summer Program targets prospective students from St. Louis and Kansas City, and the Kauffman Scholars Summer Institute is aimed at helping promising low-income urban students prepare for college by offering tutoring and financial aid.

The goal, Williams said, is to try to create a “college-going culture” within the minority community. Sometimes, though, that can be an uphill battle. “Many view doing well in school as somehow acting white,” he said.

However, the Education Trust says the failure of high schools to prepare students for college is only part of the problem. The study found that high-achieving low-income students are more likely to attend a two-year school or go to a college with less resources and status. Flagship universities aren’t doing enough to bring these students to their campuses, Haycock said.

“(Flagship universities) can do some pretty difficult things,” she said. “And yet, in this arena, (the universities) want to paint themselves as helpless.”

The study made several recommendations for how flagship universities can become more diverse and inclusive, including:

• reallocating institutional financial aid to low-income students;
• aggressively recruiting more talented low-income and minority students;
• making greater efforts to “reclaim” students who left school before they obtained their degrees;
• preparing more high-quality teachers for poor and predominantly minority school districts.