what can colleges do to increase campus diversity
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Patricia Howard wanted to get to college, simply she was in a bind. She worried she'd go off track if she stayed in her densely packed New York City neighborhood, in Queens, merely her mom needed her, and out-of-town options were as well expensive, fifty-fifty with financial aid.
She had heard of the College of Staten Island, which seemed impossibly far away, across two boroughs and the New York harbor. So she found out well-nigh a free shuttle bus that would significantly ease her commute. 1 look at the course catalog and so the expansive lawns on a campus dotted with trees and low-lying brick buildings and she was sold.
"The shuttle does brand it easier, it helps out a lot," said Howard, 18, whose commute is nigh two hours. "It keeps yous on track for class. If I had stayed in the city it would have been likewise comfy, too like shooting fish in a barrel not to written report."
The national conversation about helping more low-income students of color like Howard go to higher has produced a complex set of potential solutions, but on Staten Island, a simple bluish bus seems to have opened doors that administrators had been struggling to unlock for years. Overall enrollment at the higher has increased by just 15 percent since the shuttle was started, just the numbers of blackness and Latino students have increased by 49 and 43 percent respectively.
The experience may provide lessons for colleges seeking to attract a more various group of students.
"Transportation is an admission outcome," said Jennifer Brown Lerner, deputy managing director at the American Youth Policy Forum. "Research indicates that it is one of the barriers students face for enrollment and keeping upwardly in college, both in terms of access and cost."
It's non just an outcome in poorer neighborhoods in cities, where black and Latino youth are overrepresented, but also, she said, in rural and suburban areas where public transportation is more scarce.
Related: Communities come together to increment college-going from the ground upwardly
Administrators at the College of Staten Isle, or CSI, which is office of the City Academy of New York, say that even though other initiatives may have contributed to the school'south increased diversity, such as more than outreach programs and the add-on of dorms two years agone, the shuttle bus has been central. An early ridership study showed that about half the students were coming from other parts of New York City. The college, which is at present 12 percent Asian, 14 percent blackness and 17 percent Latino, is more diverse than Staten Island itself.
The numbers of black and Latino students increased by 49 and 43 pct respectively at the Higher of Staten Island between 2007 and 2014.
The CSI staff also stress that the shuttle motorcoach has broadened access for residents of Staten Isle besides.
"What happened in the implementation of the shuttle bus is that the variety of the pupil body increased," said Michael Kress, vice president of information technology and economical development, who has worked at CSI for 47 years. "The places where at that place'southward a lot of diversity on Staten Island, in that location's non a lot of transportation, so it's not easy to get to the campus unless you lot have a automobile."
Shuttle coach ridership rose to 360,000 passengers last year, a sixty percent increment from when it began. The shuttle at present reliably runs every 20 minutes from the ferry final during elevation hours and the ride takes 25 minutes — about half the time that a city bus takes. And city buses' departure times can be unreliable.
Discussion of the CSI shuttle's success has spread. Last fall Queens College (which has like problems with city bus reliability) added a shuttle bus to run between the two chief public transit hubs and the college. At Connecticut's Asnuntuck Community College, a free shuttle bus now picks upwards students from Hartford — generally young people who weren't able to pursue college correct after high school — takes them to the higher, near 25 minutes away, and buses them back at the end of the 24-hour interval.
One of the main barriers to providing such efficient, low-cost transportation is, of course, the price tag.
"Colleges will inquire themselves, practise I spend dollars on increasing the quality of my staff and programs, or on transit vouchers and amend transportation," said Erin Russ, a policy assistant with EducationCounsel.
Related: Colleges need to back up low-income students or risk greater economic disparity. But can it exist done?
The CSI shuttle began every bit a airplane pilot plan in 2008, using federal grant money that dried up later on two years. But the shuttle was then popular that the higher continued to fund most of information technology from its full general upkeep. Concluding twelvemonth, however, Albany budget cuts for CUNY meant the college effectively lost $2.7 million, co-ordinate to Ira Persky, CSI'southward vice president for finance and administration. Students agreed to a $xl per-semester fee (which can be covered by financial help) to assist keep the shuttle and other internal bus services running. The shuttle charabanc alone costs about $800,000 per yr, co-ordinate to Persky.
Still, many students say it'south worth it. Dajour Armstrong gets up at five a.m. to become to class on time from his home in the Throgs Cervix section of the Bronx. He has already ridden a bus, two subway trains and the ferry by the time he takes a seat on the shuttle jitney. After such an odyssey, the prospect of being tardily to form because of an erratic city bus was disheartening.
"I didn't desire to stay in the Bronx; I wanted to become out and explore," said Armstrong, xviii. "They told me about the shuttle. It makes it easier."
This story was produced by The Hechinger Written report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Read more about Higher Instruction.
Source: https://hechingerreport.org/can-better-transportation-increase-diversity-on-college-campuses/
0 Response to "what can colleges do to increase campus diversity"
Post a Comment