African American high school graduates who chose higher education: a profile

African Americans are grossly underrepresented in American higher education. Despite the removal of all legal barriers to full access and an increased rate of graduation from high school, college enrollment by African Americans remains below those of other ethnic groups in America and even showed a decline in the last decade. In 1993, African Americans constituted over 12 percent of the American population but only 10.20 percent of those enrolled in the country's colleges and universities.

The purpose of this study was to develop a profile of African Americans enrolled in higher education in the West Texas region and determine how important each of eight selected factors was in the decision of an African American high school graduate to pursue higher education. The survey questionnaire method was used to obtain the information. Besides rating the importance of each of the eight factors in their personal decisions to pursue higher education, the study participants rated how important they believed each factor should be in the decision of other African American high school graduates to pursue higher education.