Affirmative Action

PREFERENCES IN COLORADO COLLEGES

If public colleges and universities in the state of Colorado admitted students on a colorblind basis, black and Hispanic enrollment generally would not drop, but graduation rates would be much higher. That is one conclusion of a recent study on the use of racial preferences in undergraduate admissions in Colorado.

Researchers found that all institutions of higher learning in the state use racial preferences to increase black enrollment, and most use preferences to increase Hispanic enrollment. The greatest preferences are given at the most competitive institutions.

But the result is that average black and Hispanic students are not as academically qualified as the average white students at some schools -- or as some whites who are denied admission. For example,

  • At the University of Colorado at Boulder, the average white student scored 205 points higher on the SAT (out of a possible 1600), 4 points higher on the ACT (out of a possible 36) and had a grade point average nearly half a point higher (on a four-point scale).

  • At the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the average white student scored 160 points higher on the SAT and 3 point higher on the ACT than the average Hispanic student.

  • At five schools, about 50 percent of rejected white applicants had higher ACT scores than the median for blacks who were admitted.

Overall, the study found that the use of racial preferences depresses Hispanic graduation rates slightly and black graduation rates strongly: six years after enrolling, less than one-third of all blacks and Hispanics receive a diploma, as opposed to more than half of all Asians and whites.

If admissions were colorblind, black enrollment would decline at four institutions and Hispanic enrollment would decline at two. But enrollment of either group of students probably would not decline at the eight other institutions in the system, since their test scores would be sufficient for admission.

Source: Robert Lerner and Althea K. Nagai, "Racial Preferences in Colorado Higher Education," Center for Equal Opportunity, 815 15th Street, N.W., Suite 928, Washington, DC 20004, (202) 639-0803.

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