The Importance of the Nation’s Community Colleges to African Americans

The United States Department of Education has released a new report on the status of two-year community colleges in the United States. The report noted that in 2007 there were 1,685 two-year colleges in the United States. All told, these community colleges enrolled more than 6.5 million students. Blacks made up 15.3 percent of all students at community colleges in the United States. In comparison, African Americans were 10 percent of all students at private, four-year colleges and universities.

Blacks made up 6.8 percent of all faculty at two-year community colleges. In comparison, blacks were 5.1 percent of the faculty at four-year publicly operated educational institutions and 4.8 percent of all faculty at four-year private colleges and universities.