This document summarizes enrollment trends in black and Latino students at CUNY schools over the past 13 years. It finds that the share of black and Latino freshmen at top CUNY schools like Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, and Queens colleges has significantly decreased since 2001, reaching a low in 2012. For example, black freshmen at Hunter College have declined from 20% to 9% of the class. However, the number of eligible black and Latino high school graduates has increased dramatically in this time period. The document also notes top CUNY schools are relying more on transfer students, only a third of which come from CUNY community colleges.

1. Enrollment Trends at CUNY
Changes in the Racial/Ethnic Composition of
Students at the City University of New York
February 23, 2015 www.cssny.org

2. Background
• 2012: The Community Service Society of New York (CSS) releases a report showing
decreases in black and Latino freshmen enrollment at CUNY senior colleges,
particularly the top five senior colleges (Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, and Queens),
over a relatively short period of time. The report points to the Great Recession, the
subsequent increase in applications to CUNY, and CUNY’s raising of minimum SAT
score requirements as possible reasons for the trend.
• 2015: The Atlantic publishes a story on enrollment trends at CUNY, highlighting
personal stories of high achievers being denied admission to CUNY colleges while
being accepted to elite, private institutions. CUNY challenges nearly every aspect of
the story, causing the Atlantic to make significant edits.
www.cssny.org

3. This presentation
This presentation provides thirteen years of CUNY admissions data to identify trends
in black and Latino freshmen enrollment. We also examine data related to transfer
students, as well as the pool of eligible graduating high school students from NYC
public schools.
We find:
• Significant decreases in black and Latino freshman at top CUNY schools
• A greater reliance on transfer students at top schools
• That the vast majority of transfer students do not come from CUNY community
colleges; and there has been a decrease in black students among transfer students
• These trends are occurring while the pool of college-ready black and Latino
graduates from NYC public high schools has increased dramatically
www.cssny.org

4. The share of first-time freshmen at CUNY’s top five senior
colleges who were black or Latino reached a thirteen-year
low in 2012.
Sixteen percent of freshmen were Latino and 10 percent were black. In 2001, 20 percent of freshmen were
Latino and 17 percent were black.
Share of first-time freshman at top tier CUNY senior colleges, Fall 2001-2013
19.5%
21.9%
16.1% 16.4%
17.4%
9.6%
10.5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Latino
Black
www.cssny.org

5. At Baruch College, Latinos have gone from 19 percent of
freshmen in 2006 to just 8 percent in 2013.
Eight and a half percent of freshmen in 2013 were black, up slightly from a low point of 6 percent in 2011.
Share of first-time freshman at Baruch College, Fall 2001-2013
www.cssny.org
16.0%
19.0%
8.0%
11.6%
6.2%
8.5%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Latino
Black

6. At Hunter College, the share of freshmen who are black has
gone from 20 percent in 2001 to 9 percent in 2013.
The share of Latinos has gone down from 23 percent to 17 percent.
Share of first-time freshman at Brooklyn College, Fall 2001-2013
www.cssny.org
23.3%
17.1%
19.9%
9.2%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Latino
Black

7. At Brooklyn College, the share of black freshmen went
from 24 percent in 2001 to 13 percent in 2012.
Latinos went from a peak of 17 percent in 2008 to 11 percent in 2012. Both numbers increased slightly
in 2013.
Share of first-time freshman at Brooklyn College, Fall 2001-2013
www.cssny.org
10.7%
16.6%
10.6%
13.4%
24.4%
12.7%
15.7%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Latino
Black

8. At City College, the share of black freshmen went from 31
percent in 2001 to 14 percent in 2012.
Latinos went from a peak of 37 percent in 2006 to 26 percent in 2013.
Share of first-time freshman at City College, Fall 2001-2013
www.cssny.org
35.9%
37.4%
25.6%
31.2%
13.5%
14.5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Latino
Black

9. At Queens College, the share of black freshmen went from
a peak of 8 percent in 2008 to 5 percent in 2013.
Latinos went from a peak of 20 percent in 2004 to 13 percent in 2012.
Share of first-time freshman at Queens College, 2001-2013
www.cssny.org
16.3%
19.5%
13.3%
15.8%
7.2%
8.3%
5.4%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Latino
Black

10. Greater shares of black and Latino freshmen are now
beginning at CUNY’s community colleges.
In 2008, 53 percent of Latino students were starting at senior colleges; in 2011 that number was 41
percent. In 2012, only 34 percent of black freshmen started at a senior college, down from 52 percent
as recently as 2006.
Share of first-time freshmen starting at a senior college, Fall 2001-2013
www.cssny.org
57.4%
59.5%
47.8%
50.2%
53.3% 53.0%
41.2%
44.6%
48.6%
52.0%
34.1%
36.2%
68.6%
65.8%
62.3%
65.2%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
All
Latino
Black
White
Asian

11. In the class of 2013, there were nearly 17,400 more black
and Latino students graduating with Regents diplomas than
in the class of 2005, a 162 percent increase.
In that time, the number of black and Latino students admitted to the top 5 CUNY senior colleges
decreased 30 percent to fewer than 2,000 students.
Number of NYC DOE Regents diploma graduates (2005 graduating class = 2001 cohort) & number of
freshmen admitted to top tier CUNY colleges
www.cssny.org
5,469
12,839
1,142
759
5,275
15,297
1,596
1,183
-
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Black HS grads
Black freshmen
Latino HS grads
Latino freshman

12. In the class of 2013, at least 6,592 black and Latino public
high school graduates were designated as college ready.*
Yet, there were fewer than 2,000 black and Latino freshmen admitted to CUNY’s top five senior colleges.
Number of NYC graduates designated as college ready (class of 2013)
www.cssny.org
2,637
3,955
759
1,184
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
Black Latino
APM - College Ready
CUNY top 5
*The DOE’s Aspirational Performance Metric (APM) indicates that a student is college ready if they achieved a score of 80 or higher on at least one
Math regents exam, and a score of 75 or higher on the English regents exam. The 6,592 number cited above is a low estimate, as the data for
certain schools with small graduating classes is suppressed and the number of college ready students at those schools is not included.

13. Top tier CUNY colleges are filling a greater share of seats
with transfer students in 2013 than they were in 2008.
Fifty-five percent of incoming students at the top five colleges were transfer students in 2013, compared
to 48 percent in 2008.
Share of incoming coming students that are transfer students
www.cssny.org
45.3%
55.6%
40.6% 41.9%
55.4%
48.0%
55.6%
62.0%
47.3%
48.8%
61.5%
55.1%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Baruch Brooklyn City Hunter Queens Total top 5
Fall 2008
Fall 2013

14. A little over one-third of transfer students to the CUNY
senior colleges come from CUNY community colleges.
Nearly half come from outside the CUNY system (another 15 percent transfer from within CUNY senior
colleges). The share of transfers coming from CUNY community colleges is especially low at Brooklyn
and Hunter College.
Share of senior college transfer students coming from CUNY community colleges (Fall 2013)
www.cssny.org
35.1%
38.0%
39.8%
32.3%
51.3%
32.7%
38.4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
All Senior Top 5 Baruch Brooklyn City Hunter Queens

15. The share of transfer students at CUNY senior colleges
who are black has gone down significantly since the 2001-02
school year.
The share of transfers who are Latino has increased in that time.
Share of transfer students at senior colleges, 2001/02-2012/13
www.cssny.org
19.7%
24.4%
30.9%
24.8%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13
Latino
Black

16. The share of transfer students at CUNY’s top five senior
colleges who are black has gone down significantly since
the 2001-02 school year and is now under 18 percent.
The share of transfers who are Latino has increased in that time, from 18 percent to 21 percent.
Share of transfer students at top 5 senior colleges, 2001/02-2012/13
www.cssny.org
18.0%
21.3%
23.2%
17.5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13
Latino
Black

17. All of the top five senior colleges have seen reductions in
the share of black transfer students.
Hunter and Baruch College have seen particularly drastic decreases.
Black share of transfer students at top 5 senior colleges, 2001/02-2012/13
www.cssny.org
21.5%
11.4%
34.7%
29.9%
38.5%
25.4%
19.0%
14.8%
11.2%
9.6%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13
Baruch
Brooklyn
Hunter
City
Queens

18. Read the original 2012 report on cuny admission trends at
www.cssny.org/unintendeimpacts
www.cssny.org
www.cssny.org/unintendedimpacts