WASHINGTON - The nation's colleges are attracting record numbers of new students as more Hispanics finish high school and young adults opt to pursue a higher education rather than languish in a weak job market.
A study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center highlights the growing diversity in higher education.
Newly released government figures show that freshman enrollment surged 6 percent in 2008 to a record 2.6 million, mostly due to rising minority enrollment. That is the highest increase since 1968 during the height of the Vietnam War, when young adults who attended college could avoid the military draft.
Almost three-quarters of the freshman increases in 2008 were minorities, of which Hispanics made up the largest share.
The enrollment increases were clustered mostly at community colleges, trade schools and large public universities, which tend to have more open admissions policies and charge less tuition. Still, the gains in minorities were seen at almost all levels of higher education, with non-Hispanic white enrollment dipping to 53 percent at community colleges and 62 percent at four-year colleges.
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Preliminary government data show freshman college enrollment continued rising in 2009 to fresh highs, but demographic breakdowns were not yet available.
"The nation is moving beyond whether minorities have access to postsecondary education," said Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew who wrote the report. "The question increasingly is not 'Which youth go beyond high school?' but 'Who goes where?' "
California, the District of Columbia, Arizona, Alabama and Nevada had the largest freshman enrollment increases in 2008, with gains ranging from 11 percent to 21 percent. States registering declines included Minnesota, Nebraska, Delaware and Oklahoma, which dropped as much as 5 percent.
Demographers say much of the college enrollment gains reflect the nation's rapidly changing demographics, in which 43 percent of all students in grade 12 and younger are now minority. But the recession, too, is adding to the increases as more high school graduates - mainly Hispanics - enroll immediately in college rather than take their chances in the labor force.
Among the findings:
• Freshman enrollment of Hispanics in higher education jumped by 15 percent in 2008, compared with 8 percent for blacks, 6 percent for Asians and 3 percent for non-Hispanic whites.
• The share of 18- to 24-year-olds who earned high school diplomas reached an all-time high of 85 percent. Among Asians, the number was 92 percent, non-Hispanic whites 90 percent, blacks 79 percent and Hispanics 70 percent.
