Strong Growth in Black Enrollments at Georgia’s Public Universities: But Blacks Still Underrepresented at High-Ranking Institutions

The University System of Georgia reports an all-time high in student enrollments this fall of 311,442. This is an increase of 3.2 percent from a year ago. Over the past five years the 35 colleges and universities in the Georgia system have seen an overall increase in enrollments of more than 51,000 students.

Black enrollments at the University System of Georgia institutions are up 5.1 percent this year. There are now 84,106 black students enrolled systemwide. They make up 27 percent of the total enrollments. This is near parity with the black college-age population in the state.

All three of the state’s historically black universities — Fort Valley State, Albany State, and Savannah State — saw significant growth in enrollments. Blacks make up 85 percent or more of all students at these three state universities.

However, blacks are still grossly underrepresented at the state flagship campus in Athens. The latest data shows there are 2,681 black students at the University of Georgia. They make up 7.7 percent of the student body.

At the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, blacks are 6 percent of the total enrollments.

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