After the Tragedy at Virginia Tech, Total Enrollments Are Up But Black Enrollments Decline

After the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech, many commentators believed that the university would have a difficult time fulfilling its enrollment quota for next fall. But just the opposite has happened.

The university reports that by mid-May it received enrollment deposits from 5,215 students which exceeded its goal of 5,000. Only three students told the university that they would not enroll because of concerns about safety after the tragedy.

But the statistics also reveal that Virginia Tech, a state-operated educational institution, still has a lot of work to do in terms of racial diversity. Only 3.5 percent of the students who have sent in deposits are black.

Currently blacks make up about 5 percent of the 22,000 undergraduates at Virginia Tech. And it must be remembered that blacks make up nearly 20 percent of the college-age population in Virginia.