EnrollmEnt trEnds at CUnYChanges in the racial/Ethnic Composition of students at the City University of new York

February 23, 2015 www.cssny.org

Background

• 2012: The Community Service Society of New York (CSS) releases a report showing decreases in black and Latino freshmen enrollment at CUNY senior colleges, particularly the top five senior colleges (Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, and Queens), over a relatively short period of time. The report points to the Great Recession, the subsequent increase in applications to CUNY, and CUNY’s raising of minimum SAT score requirements as possible reasons for the trend.

• 2015: The Atlantic publishes a story on enrollment trends at CUNY, highlighting personal stories of high achievers being denied admission to CUNY colleges while being accepted to elite, private institutions. CUNY challenges nearly every aspect of the story, causing the Atlantic to make significant edits.

www.cssny.org

This presenTaTion

This presentation provides thirteen years of CUNY admissions data to identify trends in black and Latino freshmen enrollment. We also examine data related to transfer students, as well as the pool of eligible graduating high school students from NYC public schools.

We find:• Significant decreases in black and Latino freshman at top CUNY schools

• A greater reliance on transfer students at top schools

• That the vast majority of transfer students do not come from CUNY community colleges; and there has been a decrease in black students among transfer students

• These trends are occurring while the pool of college-ready black and Latino graduates from NYC public high schools has increased dramatically

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The share of firsT-Time freshmen aT cunY’s Top five senior colleges Who Were Black or laTino reached a ThirTeen-Year loW in 2012.Sixteen percent of freshmen were Latino and 10 percent were black. In 2001, 20 percent of freshmen were Latino and 17 percent were black.

share of first-time freshman at top tier cunY senior colleges, fall 2001-2013

19.5%

21.9%

16.1% 16.4%17.4%

9.6%10.5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Latino

Black

www.cssny.org

aT Baruch college, laTinos have gone from 19 percenT of freshmen in 2006 To jusT 8 percenT in 2013. Eight and a half percent of freshmen in 2013 were black, up slightly from a low point of 6 percent in 2011.

share of first-time freshman at Baruch college, fall 2001-2013

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16.0%

19.0%

8.0%

11.6%

6.2%

8.5%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

20%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Latino

Black

aT hunTer college, The share of freshmen Who are Black has gone from 20 percenT in 2001 To 9 percenT in 2013. The share of Latinos has gone down from 23 percent to 17 percent.

share of first-time freshman at Brooklyn college, fall 2001-2013

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23.3%

17.1%

19.9%

9.2%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Latino

Black

aT BrooklYn college, The share of Black freshmen WenT from 24 percenT in 2001 To 13 percenT in 2012. Latinos went from a peak of 17 percent in 2008 to 11 percent in 2012. Both numbers increased slightly in 2013.

share of first-time freshman at Brooklyn college, fall 2001-2013

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10.7%

16.6%

10.6%

13.4%

24.4%

12.7%

15.7%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Latino

Black

aT ciTY college, The share of Black freshmen WenT from 31 percenT in 2001 To 14 percenT in 2012. Latinos went from a peak of 37 percent in 2006 to 26 percent in 2013.

share of first-time freshman at city college, fall 2001-2013

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35.9%37.4%

25.6%

31.2%

13.5% 14.5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Latino

Black

aT Queens college, The share of Black freshmen WenT from a peak of 8 percenT in 2008 To 5 percenT in 2013. Latinos went from a peak of 20 percent in 2004 to 13 percent in 2012.

share of first-time freshman at Queens college, 2001-2013

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16.3%

19.5%

13.3%

15.8%

7.2%8.3%

5.4%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Latino

Black

greaTer shares of Black and laTino freshmen are noW Beginning aT cunY’s communiTY colleges. In 2008, 53 percent of Latino students were starting at senior colleges; in 2011 that number was 41 percent. In 2012, only 34 percent of black freshmen started at a senior college, down from 52 percent as recently as 2006.

share of first-time freshmen starting at a senior college, fall 2001-2013

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57.4%59.5%

47.8%50.2%

53.3% 53.0%

41.2%

44.6%

48.6%

52.0%

34.1%36.2%

68.6%

65.8%

62.3% 65.2%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

All

Latino

Black

White

Asian

in The class of 2013, There Were nearlY 17,400 more Black and laTino sTudenTs graduaTing WiTh regenTs diplomas Than in The class of 2005, a 162 percenT increase. In that time, the number of black and Latino students admitted to the top 5 CUNY senior colleges decreased 30 percent to fewer than 2,000 students.

number of nYc doe regents diploma graduates (2005 graduating class = 2001 cohort) & number of freshmen admitted to top tier cunY colleges

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5,469

12,839

1,142 759

5,275

15,297

1,5961,183

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Black HS grads

Black freshmen

Latino HS grads

Latino freshman

in The class of 2013, aT leasT 6,592 Black and laTino puBlic high school graduaTes Were designaTed as college readY.* Yet, there were fewer than 2,000 black and Latino freshmen admitted to CUNY’s top five senior colleges.

number of nYc graduates designated as college ready (class of 2013)

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2,637

3,955

759

1,184

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

Black Latino

APM - College Ready

CUNY top 5

*The DOE’s Aspirational Performance Metric (APM) indicates that a student is college ready if they achieved a score of 80 or higher on at least one Math regents exam, and a score of 75 or higher on the English regents exam. The 6,592 number cited above is a low estimate, as the data for certain schools with small graduating classes is suppressed and the number of college ready students at those schools is not included.

Top Tier cunY colleges are filling a greaTer share of seaTs WiTh Transfer sTudenTs in 2013 Than TheY Were in 2008. Fifty-five percent of incoming students at the top five colleges were transfer students in 2013, compared to 48 percent in 2008.

share of incoming coming students that are transfer students

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45.3%

55.6%

40.6% 41.9%

55.4%

48.0%

55.6%

62.0%

47.3% 48.8%

61.5%

55.1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Baruch Brooklyn City Hunter Queens Total top 5

Fall 2008

Fall 2013

a liTTle over one-Third of Transfer sTudenTs To The cunY senior colleges come from cunY communiTY colleges.Nearly half come from outside the CUNY system (another 15 percent transfer from within CUNY senior colleges). The share of transfers coming from CUNY community colleges is especially low at Brooklyn and Hunter College.

share of senior college transfer students coming from cunY community colleges (fall 2013)

www.cssny.org

35.1%38.0%

39.8%

32.3%

51.3%

32.7%

38.4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

All Senior Top 5 Baruch Brooklyn City Hunter Queens

The share of Transfer sTudenTs aT cunY senior colleges Who are Black has gone doWn significanTlY since The 2001-02 school Year.The share of transfers who are Latino has increased in that time.

share of transfer students at senior colleges, 2001/02-2012/13

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19.7%

24.4%

30.9%

24.8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13

Latino

Black

The share of Transfer sTudenTs aT cunY’s Top five senior colleges Who are Black has gone doWn significanTlY since The 2001-02 school Year and is noW under 18 percenT. The share of transfers who are Latino has increased in that time, from 18 percent to 21 percent.

share of transfer students at top 5 senior colleges, 2001/02-2012/13

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18.0%

21.3%

23.2%

17.5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13

Latino

Black

all of The Top five senior colleges have seen reducTions in The share of Black Transfer sTudenTs. Hunter and Baruch College have seen particularly drastic decreases.

Black share of transfer students at top 5 senior colleges, 2001/02-2012/13

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21.5%

11.4%

34.7%

29.9%

38.5%

25.4%

19.0%

14.8%

11.2%9.6%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13

Baruch

Brooklyn

Hunter

City

Queens

read The original 2012 reporT on cunY admission Trends aT WWW.cssnY.org/uninTendeimpacTs

www.cssny.org

www.cssny.org/unintendedimpacts