Black Enrollments on the Rise at Flagship State Universities

Several of the nation’s flagship state universities are reporting increases in black enrollments this fall.

• At Indiana University in Bloomington, there are 1,749 black students enrolled this fall, the highest number ever recorded. Black enrollments are up 5 percent from a year ago.

• At the University of Kansas, black freshman enrollments are up 28 percent from a year ago. The number of African-American students on campus this year is the highest in the university’s history.

• At the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, black freshman enrollments are up a whopping 37 percent from a year ago. Blacks make up 10.3 percent of all first-year students.

• There are 2,194 black students at the University of Texas this fall. This is an increase of 4.1 percent from a year ago. Blacks are 5.6 percent of the freshman class and 4.4. percent of the entire student body.

• At the University of Colorado at Boulder, there are 472 black students enrolled, an increase of 9.3 percent from a year ago.

• But at Ohio State University in Columbus, the news is not encouraging. There are 363 black freshmen at Ohio State this fall, a decrease of 11 percent from a year ago.