As the number of White students receiving college degrees has stayed steady for the last five years, the number of African American, Hispanic. Asian. and Native American degree recipients has soared.

"It's real progress," says Dr. Michael Nettles, director of the Frederick D. Patterson Institute, the research and of The College Fund/UNCF. "It's phenomenal."

According to an analysis by Black Issues In Higher Education of the latest Department of Education data (see chart, page 23), the number of African Americans receiving associate degrees is increasing at a rate of 5.8 percent a year, while the number receiving bachelor's degrees is increasing at a rate of 5.6 percent a year, yielding a five-year growth rate of roughly 24 percent.

"It's good news. It's a good story," says Deborah Carter, director of the American Council on Education's (ACE) Office of Minority Al fairs. "We are seeing the benefits of the outreach and diversity efforts that colleges and universities have been making."

The increasing success of Blacks in higher education offers an optimistic contrast to other social trends -- such as the rising incarceration rate of African Americans over the last five years -- that have caused enormous concern among policy makers nationwide. Unlike the incarceration data, however, the increase in degree attainment has hardly been noticed:

"All we know is that on the higher education front, more African Americans are making the right choice -- and that is to pursue as much education as is available," Nettles says. "People are understanding the opportunities and the relationship of higher education to upward mobility."

The Fruits of the Labor

This year's Top 100 data reveal that African Americans aren't the only people of color achieving noteworthy progress in higher education.

The number of Latinos receiving degrees increased 7.8 percent a year for associate degrees and 8.6 percent for baccalaureates.