Decades after the fall of state-sanctioned segregation and Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” flagship state schools like UVA are getting richer and whiter.
Such is the conclusion of a new report, “Engines of Inequality,” released by the Education Trust last week. Looking solely at public flagship schools from each state, the report finds decreased access across the board for both low-income students and underrepresented minorities (meaning all minorities except Asians).
UVA’s overall grade? D. Grades for minority and low-income access? F and F. Not the kind of scores Mama puts on the fridge (or that administrators highlight on websites). The University did have one bright spot, receiving an A for high minority graduation rates.
“I don’t know if we get a D,” says Jack Blackburn, dean of undergraduate admissions. “I think that’s a pretty stern statement.” Spokesperson Carol Wood says, “We’re not taking this report very seriously.”
UVA’s umbrage at the study comes largely because much of the data ends in 2004—before the University started its AccessUVA program, designed explicitly to address the issues highlighted in the report. That program ensures UVA meets “100 percent demonstrated need” for all students and replaces loans with grants for families within 200 percent of the poverty line ($20,000 annual income for a family of four).
Part of that program includes the sort of aggressive recruiting the report recommends for raising enrollment for minority and low-income students. Blackburn says that throughout the fall, he’s been recruiting in low-resource schools from Southwestern Virginia to Norfolk, meeting with counselors and having night sessions with high school students and parents.
Much of the problem, he says, is that many students from such schools have trouble believing that they could make it at UVA, and so never apply. “Socially, I think that a lot of students feel awkward here if they come from a low-income background,” says Blackburn.
He admits that in the past, “I think that we’ve done a poor job at UVA and we and other distinguished universities must do more to change that.
“We’ll make good progress [in three to four years], but it’s hard to change. So I don’t think we’ll see dramatic change. We’re in it for the long haul, and I think it will take a number of years to make a huge difference.”
Access denied?
A study by the Education Trust shows decreasing access for minority and poor students at flagship state universities nationwide during the past decade. The study compared the percentage of underrepresented minorities (which does not include Asians, who are demographically overrepresented in colleges) entering college to the percentage graduating from high school. For low-income students, it measured the percentage of in-state students at a school overall to the percentage of in-state students receiving Pell grants. Those grants are usually awarded to families earning $20,000 or less. The data suggested that UVA failed during the period under study by Education Trust, which predated UVA’s new low-income funding initiative, AccessUVA.
Minority Student Access and Progress
| 2004 | 1992 | |
| Underrepresented minorities among UVA freshmen | 15.0% | 15.2% |
| Underrepresented minorities among state high school grads | 27.7% | 22.1% |
| Ratio | 0.54 | 0.69 |
| Ratio change, 1992-2004: -21.4% |
Low-Income Student Access and Progress
| 2004 | 1992 | |
| UVA students with Pell grants | 7.6% | 9.9% |
| State students with Pell grants | 28.7% | 23% |
| Ratio | 0.26 | 0.43 |
| Ratio change, 1992-2004: -38.9% |
UVA Minority Student Success
| Overall six-year graduation rate | 92.6% |
| White graduation rate | 93.8% |
| Underrepresented minority graduation rate | 86.3% |
Source: “Engines of Inequality” study by the Education Trust