Unintended Impacts: Fewer Black and Latino Freshmen at CUNY Senior Colleges After the Recession

Report | May. 2012 |View the Press Release

Unintended Impacts: Fewer Black and Latino Freshmen at CUNY Senior Colleges After the Recession

Lazar Treschan, Apurva Mehrotra

Summary: When the Great Recession hit New York City, applications to the City University of New York (CUNY) surged, as families and students sought more affordable college options. Faced with greater numbers of higher scoring applicants to its senior colleges, CUNY responded by raising minimum admission requirements. This led to a sharp drop in the numbers and share of black and Latino freshmen entering CUNY's 11 senior colleges, with the greatest decreases at the most selective schools. "Unintended Impacts" describes these trends within the context of enrollment during the past ten years at CUNY.

In 2015, we updated the original findings of this report and found that the decline in black and Latino freshmen enrollment at top CUNY schools has continued: