High school students from Black immigrant populations enroll in selective colleges at a higher rate than U.S.-born Blacks and Whites, because they have greater access to resources that influence postsecondary success, say the authors of a new study.
In their new study, published in the journal Sociology of Education, Dr. Pamela R. Bennett, an assistant professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Amy Lutz, an assistant professor of sociology at Syracuse University, tracked the enrollment rates for White, native Black and immigrant Black high school students into community colleges, historically Black institutions, four-year non-selective and four-year selective colleges and universities.
“The most important finding of the study is the [reality] that that both third- and later-generation African-Americans and first- and second-generation (immigrant) Blacks are more likely than similar Whites to attend college, including selective colleges,” says Bennett who is the report's lead researcher.
Their findings reveal that immigrant Blacks or Blacks with immigrant origins enroll in all postsecondary institutions at a greater rate than native-born Blacks and Whites. Moreover, the report indicates that selective colleges enroll nearly four times as many Black immigrants, at 9.2 percent, than native-born Blacks, at 2.4 percent, and Whites, at 7.3 percent. Enrollment among both groups of Blacks in two-year colleges and four-year non-selective schools were virtually equal, teetering, respectively, at 41 percent and 30 percent.
