The Black Undergraduate

This report presents a national profile of black college freshmen in 1989-90 and shows how these students have changed based on the past 19 surveys (1971-1989), using data on 16,000-20,000 black freshmen from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program. The study focuses on a wide variety of characteristics of black college freshmen: family background, financial aid and college choice, academic factors, behavioral patterns, aspirations and plans, expectations for college, self-concept, and values and attitudes. Although the report focuses on black-white differences, it is emphasized that the items where substantial differences were found were considerably outnumbered by items that yielded minor or no differences. Major findings include: (1) black students reported lower family incomes and education level than white students; (2) black college freshmen have experienced declining access to financial aid in the form of federal grants and have been forced to rely more on student loans; (3) low tuition was a major factor in black students' decision about which college to attend; (4) black freshmen continue to be less well-prepared for college compared to their white counterparts; (5) career choices of black students do not reflect preference for careers in the sciences or college teaching. (Nine references.) (JDD)