Tufts Back on Track in Black Enrollments

In 2006 there were only 53 black first-year students at Tufts University. They made up 4 percent of all incoming students. This was a whopping 41 percent decline from the previous year.

The good news is that the disappointing 2006 performance seems to have been a one-year aberration. Currently, there are 97 black freshmen at Tufts, the most in the past five years. Blacks are 7.1 percent of this year’s entering class. This year the number of black applicants, black accepted students, and black student yield were all up significantly.

Lee Coffin, dean of undergraduate admissions at Tufts University, told JBHE, “This year’s success represents a restoration of the diversity we have typically had in our entering class.” Dean Coffin reports that Tufts hired a new admissions officer this year who was dedicated to diversity outreach. This officer visited an increased number of urban high schools and other schools with a predominantly black student body. “My team hustled to redirect the decline” in black enrollments, Coffin stated. “And the university committed additional resources to need-based financial aid and diversity recruitment.”

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.