Educating Immigrants and Native Minorities in CUNY Community Colleges

Abstract

New York City has always attracted a significant share of the foreign-born newcomers to the United States, but during the last two decades the growth of the city’s immigrant population has accelerated. In 1990, according to the U.S. Census, 28.2 percent of New York City’s population was foreign born. By 1999, 42 percent of the city’s population was born abroad. Many immigrants arrive with skills, but many others pick up their advanced skills in New York, particularly at the schools of the City University of New York (CUNY). CUNY serves both young immigrants whose parents brought them to New York and older immigrants whose motivation to educate themselves is driven by the economic goals that likely also motivated their immigration. This Brief examines the experience of immigrants and native minorities in CUNY during the 1990s. How much education do immigrants who enroll in CUNY actually acquire, and do they earn degrees? In short, how would we evaluate CUNY’s success in providing an educational foundation for recent arrivals? We focus on immigrant enrollment in community colleges and two-year associate degree programs in the senior colleges. Community colleges are designed to facilitate access to higher education for all groups, including individuals with weak academic skills, low incomes, and other characteristics that create barriers to further education. One of the goals of the study on which this Brief is based was to determine whether the two-year programs play this type of role in CUNY.