Nearly 18,000 Young Blacks Are Enrolled in Undergraduate Programs at the Nation’s 30 Highest-Ranked Universities

JBHE calculations from Department of Education data find that in 2004 there were 17,787 black undergraduates enrolled at the nation’s 30 highest-ranked universities. This large cadre of academically talented black youth is a solid core of intellectual firepower. It includes those who will be among our nation’s leaders in the years to come.

Among the 30 highest-ranked universities, the University of Michigan had the largest number of black undergraduates with 1,887. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Virginia, and the University of Southern California were the only other institutions among the 30 highest-ranked universities that enrolled more than 1,000 black undergraduates.

At the other end of the scale, there were only 10 black undergraduates at the California Institute of Technology. Both Rice University and the University of Chicago had fewer than 200 black undergraduates.

The University of Michigan’s leadership in enrolling black students will be in jeopardy if voters in the state pass the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative this coming November. The referendum, being pushed by Ward Connerly’s American Civil Rights Institute, would ban race-sensitive admissions at all state-operated universities in Michigan.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.