Racially Minoritized Students at U.S. Four-Year Institutions

Abstract

Racially attending U.S. colleges and universities are often compared to their White peers in research studies, generally emphasizing their cultural deficits, masking group achievement, and homogenizing within group variations. This article reports data for who participated in the national 2000 College Senior Survey administered by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) housed at Higher Education Research Institute. Using descriptive data and chi-square tests, the findings draw a picture of these that does not presume homogenous characteristics or experiences and challenges some previously established beliefs about this population. Implications for research and practice are provided.Keywords: of color; higher education; demographics; cultural deficit modelsIntroductionOver the past fifty years, Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Native American have enrolled in college in steadily increasing numbers (El-Khawas, 2003). These groups constitute those who have been in U.S. society. The term racially students as opposed to of color or is informed by Benitez's (2010) use of minoritized and similar to this usage is intended to refer to the process [action vs. noun] of student minoritization (p. 131) that reflects an understanding of minority status as that which is socially constructed in specific societal contexts. Current presidential initiatives focused on college access and completion (Brandon, 2009) demand greater attention be paid to having an informed picture of in college and how to support their success.Researchers studying college typically make racial or ethnic comparisons within the samples, depicting White as more successful and prepared for college than students. Such findings reflect a cultural deficit approach (Flores, Cousin, & Diaz, 1991; Rendon, Jalomo, & Nora, 2000) that centers the experiences, habits, and characteristics of White as normative and optimal. The achievements of are rendered invisible and insignificant inasmuch as they fall short of the achievements made by White or as aberrant if they rise above them. Moreover, a cultural deficit approach masks the heterogeneity within and across the racial and ethnic groups that comprise students. Consequently, appear to be generally deficient in cultural capital, underprepared, and at risk for attrition, while the systemic structural inequities that contribute to uneven patterns of educational persistence and achievement are ignored (Chavous et al., 2002; Rendon, Jalomo, & Nora, 2000). Given this situation, it is vital to construct an understanding of that does not use a cultural deficit approach to transform higher education policy and practice to better ensure the successful matriculation and graduation of these students. This depiction studies pre-college characteristics, college involvement, and satisfaction among college students. College achievement was not included because the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), who granted access to these data, is using college achievement data in current analyses of pre-college and college achievement among students.Literature ReviewThis literature review includes studies that have examined the pre-college characteristics and campus involvement of college and takes a thematic approach, characterizing the general conclusions of the literature, and ends with a discussion of the purpose of this study and how it extends the current literature.Pre-College CharacteristicsGenerally, research on students' pre-college characteristics has portrayed on average as less academically talented, more in need of remedial education upon matriculating to college, and lacking the cultural capital and family support necessary for college success (Kuh et al. …