U. gets 'C' on access

Minorities are having a harder time getting through the University of Utah's doors, earning the institution a C grade on access to education for poor and minority students.

The ranking from the Education Trust points to a decline in the percentage of eligible poor and minority students who are getting into the state's flagship university, as well as a dip in the number of disadvantaged students who actually make it to a degree.

The national report, released this week, gives each state's flagship university a letter grade based on its overall progress in minority and low-income access and minority success. Eight states received failing grades on the report card, while 24 got D's and 14 states earned C's. Four institutions received B's, and no A grades were awarded.

"Even as the number of low-income and minority high school graduates in their states grow, often by leaps and bounds, these institutions are becoming disproportionately whiter and richer," states the report by the Education Trust, a national group working for educational equality.

The U. received an overall grade of a C, with a B for minority access, a C for low-income access and a B for minority success. The U.'s score was based on its downward trend in the percentage of minorities and low-income students who enter the university and complete their degrees.

"I think we're losing ground across the board, not just with minority students but with the overall decline in the number of students we have completing degrees," said David Doty, assistant commissioner of higher education in Utah. "I think it is fair to say that we all need to be a doing a better job."

Although a higher number of disadvantaged students are going to the U. — about 2,541 of the 22,000 undergraduate students — the percentage of the eligible poor and minority people who attend is decreasing.

About 8 percent of the state's high school graduates in 2004 were members of minority groups, while minorities only accounted for 6.5 percent of the freshman class at the U. that year. That represents a 15 percent decline from the ratio of eligible minority high school graduates who enrolled at the university in 1992.

The statistics are also stacked against those students who do make it into the U. While 41 percent of white students graduate within six years, only 34 percent of low-income and minority students get their degrees within the same time frame.