The Answer Sheet - Minorities drive biggest jump in college freshman enrollment in 40 years, study says: Hispanics and other minority students drove the largest rise in freshman enrollment in the past 40 years at the nation’s 6,100 four-year, post-secondary institutions from fall 2007 to fall 2008, according to a study released today. But the enrollment boom was concentrated in certain states and highly focused on a very small number of the largest colleges and universities.
The report, by the Pew Research Center and entitled “Minorities and the Recession-Era College Enrollment Boom,” said that there was a 6 percent jump in overall freshman enrollment at four-year colleges, community colleges and trade schools from 2007 to 2008, the first year of the recession.
Hispanics had a 15 percent increase; blacks, 8 percent; Asians, 6 percent; and whites, 3 percent, according to the study, conducted by Pew Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project.
