University of Arkansas Mounts $300,000 Advertising Campaign to Attract More Blacks to Campus

The flagship campus of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is located in the northwestern corner of the state far from Arkansas’ black population centers. As a result, in a state where blacks make up 15 percent of the total population, only 5.5 percent of the undergraduate students enrolled at the university are black.

The university administration has launched a $300,000 media blitz in an effort to encourage more black students to apply to the Fayetteville campus. The university is running television, radio, and print advertisements targeting black students. In addition, the university is conducting workshops for high school students in predominantly black neighborhoods to help them prepare for the ACT test and to educate them about the advantages of attending the Fayetteville campus.

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