States Making the Most Progress in Increasing African-American College Student Enrollments

In 1999 blacks made up 33.4 percent of all students enrolled in higher education in Mississippi. In 2004 the black percentage of all student enrollments in Mississippi had jumped to 38.4 percent. This five-percentage point rise in black enrollments in the 1999-2004 period was the largest increase of black enrollments of any state.

Other states that showed the largest percentage point gains were Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee, Alabama, Delaware, Florida, and Louisiana.

During the 1999-2004 period, 47 of the 50 states showed gains in the black percentage of total enrollments in higher education. Only in Alaska and Hawaii did the black percentage of all enrollments decline. In Montana the black percentage of all college enrollments stayed the same at a very low 0.6 percent.

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