The COVID-19 pandemic has had an outsized impact on Black and Latino communities in Michigan, including when it comes to college plans.
A new report from the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative finds nearly a third of Black and Latino students canceled their plans to start college in the fall of 2020, a much higher rate than for white students.
Dan Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities, said the disparity is reflected in Michigan as well, where there has been an enrollment drop-off, especially for low-income, first-generation, Black and Latino students.
He hopes to see more outreach and support to communities’ higher-education goals going forward.
“Encouraging them to enroll in higher education,” Hurley advocated. “And once they are enrolled to provide them with the financial support, the academic support, the advising support to make sure that they stay in college and complete their degrees.”
The study noted in 2021, the vaccine rollout cut the share of students across racial groups canceling their college plans in half, but the rates for Black and Latino students were less affected, as nearly 45% cited change in income during COVID as the reason for their canceled plans.
Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education, speaking in an online discussion organized by the nonprofit Lumina Foundation, noted the pandemic’s effects on minority communities will be felt into the future.
“Enrollment has plummeted by nearly a million students nationwide, with the steepest declines at our community colleges, and among men of color,” Cardona reported. “The impact of this ‘missing million’ could be felt for decades. It can mean fewer opportunities, lower earnings and even poor health outcomes.”
Hurley pointed out Michigan has made bipartisan strides in increasing affordability of community college, with the Michigan Reconnect program offering free tuition to those 25 and up who want to return to school in their community. He added more state funding to other higher education opportunities is needed to reverse the disinvestment Michigan colleges and universities have seen in the last couple of decades.
“Of the top 50 high-demand, high-wage occupations through 2028, 36 of those minimally require a four-year degree,” Hurley emphasized. “The return on investment is there, the salary’s there, the jobs are there. What we need to do now is for the state to come together to make college more affordable, more accessible.”
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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Despite legislative pushback, South Dakota is moving forward with plans viewed as limiting certain teachings about race in public schools.
Gov. Kristi Noem has issued an executive order, renewing concerns from opponents and also raising questions. On Tuesday, Noem announced a ban on Critical Race Theory, an academic concept geared for college settings that explores the influence of racism in U.S. institutions. Conservative states have used it as a symbol for proposing bans in K-through-12 schools.
Janna Farley, communications director for ACLU of South Dakota, said she sees Noem’s actions as running counter to academic freedom.
“Instead of encouraging learning,” she said, “it just seems like this executive order will have a chilling effect on academic freedom.”
The order directs the Department of Education to review materials and standards and ensure they don’t include “divisive concepts” on race. Noem likened the issue to political indoctrination, but other opponents of her plan have noted it’s limited to the education department, and that school boards still have leeway to craft curriculum. A bill Noem proposed for this effort recently was rejected by a state Senate panel.
No matter the scope of the order, Farley said these actions still wtill have teachers looking over their shoulders, asking, “Is a parent or someone in the community going to get upset about some discussion that they had in their classroom, (and) report a teacher?”
She said the move adds more political fire to the delayed process of updating social studies standards. Indigenous South Dakotans condemned the proposed removal of certain Native American references, prompting the delay. And although the Legislature rejected Noem’s “divisive concepts” bill, it did approve a separate measure that bans public colleges and universities from taking part in orientations and training the state describes as “divisive.”
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Blacks and Latinos in Arizona have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including their plans to attend college.
In 2020, according to the Latino Politics and Policy Initiative at the University of California Los Angeles, nearly one-third of Black and Latino students scrapped their postsecondary education plans at a higher rate than white students.
Stephanie Parra, executive director of ALL In Education, an equal opportunity and justice nonprofit, said minority students in Arizona likely encountered more hurdles than in other parts of the country.
“We already had some work to do to get our students to college, because we were below the national average,” she said. “But we have seen a decline post-pandemic, and I do believe it is disproportionately impacting Black and Latino students here in Arizona.”
The UCLA study said more federal and school-based support is required to alleviate the additional economic and social constraints students of color now face.
In an online discussion organized by the nonprofit Lumina Foundation, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona noted that the pandemic’s effects on minority communities will be felt into the future.
“Enrollment has plummeted by nearly a million students nationwide, with the steepest declines at our community colleges, and among men of color,” he said. “The impact of this ‘missing million’ could be felt for decades. It can mean fewer opportunities, lower earnings and even poor health outcomes.”
For the newest college-bound students, the pandemic made finishing high school a greater challenge. Parra said some Arizona parents didn’t even hear from their kids’ schools for weeks, prompting her group to create a “Parent Educator Academy.”
“There was a real breakdown in communication between schools and families,” she said, “and so Parent Educator Academy is designed to build bridges and partnerships between schools and parents, so that parents can understand the role that they play in advocating for their students.”
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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As Virginia and the rest of the nation track a years-long decline in college enrollment, leaders in higher education are weighing the best ways to keep folks enrolled.
The Virginia-based National Student Clearinghouse revealed that college enrollment across the country dropped nearly 3% last fall, capping an overall two-year decline of more than 930,000 students nationwide.
In a virtual higher-ed conference this week, Doug Shapiro, vice president and executive director of the clearinghouse, noted that community colleges were most affected by enrollment declines in the pandemic’s first year.
“Community colleges essentially took 85% of the total losses in year one,” he said, “but it was nearly evenly split in year two, with the four-year institutions responsible for just under half of the total student decline, about 47%.”
According to Virginia’s State Council of Higher Education, undergraduate enrollment in public four-year schools across the state stood at nearly 172,000 as of the fall 2021 semester, the lowest fall head count since 2016. Advocates in the higher-education field argue that more financial support for students from state and federal governments could stabilize and increase enrollment.
A new report by the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative found that before vaccines became widely available, roughly 11% of Latino students planned to cancel their college plans for fall 2021, nearly double the national average. While enrollment among all student racial demographics has declined sharply since 2019, Shapiro noted that students of color were disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
“So, Hispanic freshmen were actually increasing in 2019 before the pandemic,” he said, “whereas white freshmen were already declining before the pandemic, and at the fastest rate.”
Kim Cook, chief executive of the National College Attainment Network, said the federal government could help potential students by doubling the Pell Grant, available to students with financial needs. Cook said that would make more than 80% of two- and four-year public higher ed affordable for the average Pell Grant recipient.
“Today, even with a celebrated and historic $400 increase recently signed into law,” she said, “it is worth only 30% of the average cost of attendance.”
At the state level, Cook said lawmakers can spur college enrollment by compelling students to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, as a pre-requisite for graduation.
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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