Anything that a government does in order to support its minorities and uplift them comes under the umbrella of Affirmative Action. If you are from a minority community what should you be expecting if applying to American Colleges which states would consider your minority identity and which wouldn’t, would you be recognised in the states throughout or would only public colleges accept you? Will private colleges let you in if you are a minority? These are the few questions among many that we will be discussing in the said article. Let’s learn about ‘Do Colleges In America Have To Take In Minority?’.
Do Colleges In America Have To Take In Minority?
Whether or not colleges will accept a minority community depends highly on which state you are in. Not all states will accept the fact that you belong to some minority community and take you in. This will also depend on what minority community you belong to. That also differs from State to State. Hence, you need to do your due share of research before applying to any college in these states.
Minorities in American Colleges-
- There are two types of identified minority groups in America, one is the racial ethnic group and the other is women.
- The American Colleges used quotas to fix the number of minority seats for the minority communities in the college and the area.
- But this was deemed unconstitutional in the United States of America.
- A few colleges have started a racial outreach programme where they only look for students of various races to come and take admission to their college to diversify their student base.
- Although, as said earlier, whether or not you will be given a seat because you are a minority depends highly on the state that you are in.
- Nine states in the USA have already banned racially based affirmative action.
- This means that these nine states do not have any legal or constitutional consumption to take minorities in.
- These nine states are- California, Washington, Arizona, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Florida and Idaho
- According to 73% of the colleges in America, it is not necessary for colleges to take in minorities.
- Around 64% of these colleges also believe that gender should not be a criterion to allow admission.
American States that take in Minorities-
- On an average, there are only 18.9% minority seats reserved in American Colleges.
- States like Wisconsin, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut etc have minority racial setas.
- They have nearly 13, 10, 6, 14, and 2 seats respectively for the minority community based on race.
- The state with the largest amount of seats for the minority community consisting of race is the state of Wisconsin with nearly almost all colleges having reservations which makes it a state with nearly 92% public and private institutions that follow minority reservations
- Whereas the state with the least number of states reserved for minorities, apart from the banned states, is the state of Texas with around 5.6% seats for the racial minority community.
- Another thing to focus is on the fact that public universities usually follow the Supreme Court order of not having quotas.
- Whereas private universities are free to decide their own fate and will.
- Apart from the states that have completely banned any sort of affirmative action on the basis of being a minority, every other state has their own discretion to follow
- Private Universities follow the order which can be seen in the sudden decline of Black and Hispanic admissions in the Universities like – The University of Berkeley and the University of California.
Colleges to focus on if you are from a minority community-
- With only 38% of African Americans being able to complete their education to only 64% of Hispanics being able to enrol in colleges in 2023, education in America has a long way to go
- The best college to apply to considering you have a good amount of money to spend on education is Stanford University.
- With people with stringent money, financial scholarships are also available.
- Other Universities that have seen a lot of minority student enrollment is the Harvard University in Cambridge and Columbia University in New York.
- You should be focusing on large private Universities that have good reputations if you are applying as a minority in the US.
- Another University with a racial card consisting of African American, Hispanic, Polish, Jews etc is Princeton University in Princeton.
Conclusion-
Now We’ve learnt about ‘Do Colleges In America Have To Take In Minority?’, If you are a minority student trying to get into a college in the United States of America you will have to fight equally for the skin in the game no matter what ethnic or financial background you are from. But there are still a few colleges that will focus on the minorities also since they have a reputation to behold. So, large private universities or the Ivy Leagues might work in your favour if you are a minority with the required skill set and capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions-
- Which is better a public or a private university for the minority?
Answer- The answer to this question highly depends on the state that you are applying for. Usually, it is better to go for private institutions.
- Do minorities get financial rebates in America?
Answer- If you are financially incapable of affording an education you might get funded or given scholarships, but that depends only on your financial status and the college that you are a part of. Nothing else.
