Black students in U.S. higher education: Toward improved access,adjustment, and achievement

This paper seeks to broaden our knowledge and understanding of black student experiences in U.S. higher education over the past 20 years. Toward this end, I analyze black student enrollment/earned degree trends in the state of Michigan during the 1965–80 period; examine the institutional experiences of black students who enrolled as freshmen at the University of Michigan between 1975 and 1983; and assess the correlates of access, adjustment, and achievement of 700 black college students who attended six predominantly white public institutions in 1981. The analyses out across four different levels of U.S. higher education (national, state, institutional, and individual) and shed considerable light not only on black student experiences but also those of other minority and white students as well. Based on the result of the multidimensional analyses, I set forth an agenda for action to improve the status of blacks in higher education.