People of color are earning advanced degrees at a pace that exceeds that of Whites, but can the pipeline's momentum be sustained without affirmative action?

With hardly any fanfare or notice, the last five years have seen unparalleled growth among what has been called the credentialed class" of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans.

Each of these groups has increased the number of master's and first professional degrees earned by leaps and bounds -- growing by as much as 10 percent each year (see accompanying table). However. the unprecedented numbers of advanced degrees is being earned by people of color just as attacks on affirmative action are raising the question of whether access to higher education can be maintained.

Still, the sheer numbers are impressive.

"That's an important trend," says Dr. Margaret Miller, president of the American Association for Higher Education, who notes that graduate and professional schools are "where a lot of people are getting their credentialing for professional work. That suggests a growing entrance into the middle class."

Dr. Christopher Foreman, senior scholar at the Brookings Institute, also is hopeful.

"I wouldn't want to overstate it, but it's a very encouraging sign that once African-Americans make it into postsecondary education, they can be successful in large numbers," he says. And Dr. Troy Duster, professor of sociology at the University of California-Berkeley, adds, "One of the big issues is between credentialing and employment. If we could see that people's advanced degrees connect with the job market, then it seems to be a significant development."

Asian Americans have participated in this great movement forward as well. But as a group, their educational success has been widely heralded, while that of other people of color has gone unrecognized.

These unprecedented statistics emerged as part of Black Issues In Higher Education's annual "Top 100" listing, which ranks colleges and universities on the basis of their advanced degree production among Blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans.