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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Disparities in Public College Funding Fueling Racial Divide

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Tuesday, November 13, 2018   

ALBANY, N.Y. — A new study shows that selective public colleges nationwide admit disproportionately low numbers of black and Latino students, while receiving more funding per student.

The study, from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, found that all 41 states that have selective public colleges fund them at higher rates per student than their open enrollment colleges. But black and Latino students are underrepresented in almost all those publicly funded schools.

According to Martin Van Der Werf, associate director of editorial and postsecondary policy at the center and co-author of the report, those findings hold true in New York, where 16 out of every 100 college-age youth are black, but only nine out of every 100 freshmen at the state's selective public colleges are black.

"For Latinos, 22 out of every 100 college-age young adults in New York are Latinos,” Van Der Werf said, “but only 16 out of every 100 selective public college freshmen are Latinos. "

He said selective college admissions rely heavily on SAT scores, but those scores aren't reliable indicators of college success.

Van Der Werf contendes SAT scores reflect the quality of prior schooling and parental educational attainment, factors that favor white students. And selective public college admissions mirror the unequal funding of the K-12 system.

"We give more resources to the wealthier districts,” he said. “The wealthier districts produce students who do better on the tests, those students go on to selective colleges and things just don't tend to change over time."

He said wealthier school districts tend to serve more white children. Van Der Werf said he believes selective public colleges need to take a more holistic approach to admissions.

"That they accept students from a broader cross-section of the public, because these universities ought to be serving the broad cross-section of all people in that state,” he said.

According to the report, 38 percent of white Americans have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 23 percent of black Americans and only 17 percent of Latinos.


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