Washington
The student body on American college campuses will continue to become more racially diverse, older, and more female over the next decade, according to new projections from the U.S. Department of Education.
The numbers behind those trends are contained in the latest edition of the department's annual report, "Projections of Education Statistics to 2018," released today by the department's National Center for Education Statistics.
The report estimates that total enrollment in degree-granting institutions will increase to 20.6 million by the fall of 2018, an increase of 13 percent from 2007. During the same period, enrollment is expected to grow by 38 percent among Hispanic students, 26 percent among black students, and only 4 percent among white students.
Enrollment among women is projected to grow by 16 percent versus only 9 percent among men.
The report's voluminous data also include forecasts of enrollments by region and state.
These latest data were not available last month, when The Chronicle published its annual Almanac of Higher Education, which contains summary data about a variety of enrollment and other trends in academe.
Comments
1. jgarand - September 15, 2009 at 04:16 pm
For many colleges and universities, women constitute a majority of the student body. Increasing the number of women on these campuses actually will decrease diversity, not increase it!
2. queenmaster - September 15, 2009 at 06:15 pm
You probably are right if we assume that all of the "women" are from solely the predominant group (an assumption that the phrase "women and minorities" usually allows one to make). The way we use language serves often to inhibit our thinking around diversity.
3. queenmaster - September 15, 2009 at 06:15 pm
You probably are right if we assume that all of the "women" are from solely the predominant group (an assumption that the phrase "women and minorities" usually allows one to make). The way we use language serves often to inhibit our thinking around diversity.
4. evbiii - September 16, 2009 at 08:34 am
At Georgia State University the division of student affairs is developing evidence-based programming to broaden student engagement and take advantage of its diversity. As more colleges prepare for increased diversity I suggest consulting with GSU's Division of Student Affairs to learn of their replicable processes.