Economic and racial diversity is declining among students at 22 private colleges in California, according to a report released today by Claremont Graduate University and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The report, “Using Multiple Lenses: An Examination of the Economic and Racial/Ethnic Diversity of College Students,” examined changes from 2000 to 2004 in the composition of students at the colleges, which are participating in a project designed to increase access to and success in college among students from low-income families and minority groups that are underrepresented in higher education.

The report says the average percentage of students at the 22 institutions who received Pell Grants fell from 26 percent in 2000 to 23 percent in 2004. The average percentage of students from underrepresented minority groups who received Pell Grants also dropped, from 45 percent in 2000 to 41 percent in 2004. Where the numbers of underrepresented minority students did grow, they mostly did not come from low-income families, the report says.

“The common myth that minority students are low income and low-income students are minority is as damaging as it is false,” Alma R. Clayton-Pedersen, vice president for education and institutional renewal at the association, said in written remarks. “Conflating race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status can mask the complexity of barriers to student access and success and lead to misperceptions about what is and isn’t working in campus diversity initiatives.”

The Chronicle has been publishing a series about the growing economic divides in higher education, among students and institutions.