African Americans and College Choice: The Influence of Family and School

Preface

Preface The research on African Americans in every facet of higher education is sorely lacking, from their decision-making process as to whether or not to participate in higher education to their actual participation in the graduate school pipeline. While there is much researchers know in general about the college choice process (the decision to participate in higher education, the search for an institution , and the selection of an institution), there is still much to learn about the decision-making process of underrepresented groups, such as African Americans. The following are among the many unanswered questions: (1) Are the influences on the students’ decision process the same for different cultural groups? (2) At what age or grade does the process of choosing higher education begin? (3) What role does economics really play in the decision process for groups such as African Americans? (4) What role does the secondary school attended play in the college choice process of African Americans? (5) What role does cultural affinity play in the decision process for African Americans selecting a higher education institution type—that is, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or Predominately White Institutions (PWIs)? Among the researchers who focus on college choice, it is generally agreed that the decision process of not only whether or not to participate in higher education but also of which institution to choose falls into three phases: (1) predisposition, (2) search, and (3) choice (Hossler & Gallagher, 1987; Stage & Hossler, 1989). In the first phase (predisposition), students determine whether or not to go to college; in the second stage (search), students and their families begin to investigate various higher education institutions; and in the third stage (choice), students begin to narrow their options of higher education xix institutions and make a final decision about which college or university to attend. This book almost exclusively focuses on the first stage, predisposition , or what I refer to as “predetermination,” that is, circumstances that often determine which students, or even whether students, will choose to go to college. It is important to better understand the influences on African American students’ postsecondary education decision-making process and how the decision process differs among African American students. To learn about how young African Americans plan their postsecondary futures, I conducted and taped a series of group interviews with students in grades 10 through 12 in both public and private schools in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. Those cities were chosen because they have large African American populations as well as the highest incomes and lowest poverty rates among African Americans, meaning that students in those cities are more likely to consider attending college. In all, sixteen group interviews with seventy students were conducted. In order to encourage free expression regarding perceived barriers to higher education, I asked open-ended questions about why some African American students seem uninterested in college. (See the appendix for the profile of the sample and the research methods). I was struck by the similarity in the responses given by students across schools and geographic areas, allowing me to draw some clear conclusions about the difficulties African American students face in planning their paths after high school. Transcripts from the interviews will expose those problems and possible solutions to them in the students’ own voices. (Note that the names of teachers and counselors have been changed in the transcripts). Moving away from the predisposition stage, chapter 8 explores the choice phase and broadly examines influences on African Americans’ consideration of institution type (that is, whether to attend an HBCU or a PWI). Since HBCUs are rarely included in research, this chapter provides some clues as to the allurement of these institutions. Understanding the choice process of African Americans holds great importance for higher education administrators for the purposes of recruitment, admissions, and retention. In order to increase the overall enrollment of African xx Preface Americans in colleges and universities, it is useful to understand the influences on their decision process. As for retention, academic and social integration are more easily achieved if educators have a better understanding of how students make their decisions in the first place. There is still reason for great concern about African Americans ’ participation in higher education. According to Hearn, Griswold , Marine, and McFarland (1995), understanding African Americans’ decision process to continue beyond secondary schooling is “momentous and merits serious attention” (p. 1). Previous researchers have not given...