Fund minority community colleges - The Columbia Chronicle: Opinion: Since 1991, minority enrollment in higher education has risen among all races and ethnicities. President Barack Obama’s support for minority-serving institutions, or MSIs, has been steady despite increasing costs. However, backing from the government needs to further extend to community colleges to better serve minority students.
Approximately 45 percent of minority students attend two-year community colleges, which are more affordable but less cost-efficient than four-year colleges. On average, MSI community colleges spent $500 less per student on instruction, academic support and student services than four-year MSI universities in 2013, which spent $912 more than the average university, according to an April 10 Center for American Progress report.
The report showed grants and monetary aid programs are more effective when they target a specific funding goal, and with that in mind, the federal government should reevaluate its funding initiatives to ensure that MSI students have the same access to professors, educational materials and services as four-year students.
