The Plight of Ethnic Minority Students in America

In America, going to college is considered the best path, as Americans firmly believe
education is the key to success and that it can take an individual anywhere he or she wants to
go. However, ethnic minority students are at a disadvantage in comparison to non-ethnic
students in regard to having the financial means and academic skills needed to succeed in
college and ultimately in life. Research suggests that “African-American and Hispanic students
require more time to complete an undergraduate degree than their Caucasian peers” (Ward,
Strambler, and Linke 312). With that information, one can concur that ethnic minority students
face additional challenges in college that delay their ability to attain their degree more so than
non-ethnic students. Ethnic minority students do not have much success in college due to the
continuing rise of college tuition, receiving a poor quality of education from inner-city
secondary schools, and having low academic self –esteem, which increases the dropout rate
and causes them to continue on in the repetitious cycle of minorities having underprivileged

lives. The problems that ethnic minority students face in college prohibit them from succeeding
in life; however, the problems could be significantly reduced, or eliminated, if legislation
increased educational funding for inner-city secondary schools.
The cost of attending college is steadily increasing, and since most ethnic minority
students come from low-income households, they often have to take on the responsibility of
paying their own way through college. According to Ralph Becker, a college counselor and
columnist, “Since the early 1980’s tuition has increased [by] more than 1,000% while the
consumer price index has risen [by only] 240%” (1). In essence, the cost of college tuition
supersedes the financial means of most ethnic minority students. Renee Mitchell, a reporter for
the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, postulates that “minorities are being priced out of … colleges
and are … dropping out because they can’t [pay] tuition [and fees]” (par.14). There are some
ethnic minority students who attempt to pay their own way through college by working long
and strenuous hours. Though their drive is commendable, working long hours does not leave
much time for one to put the required energy and time into studying and completing
assignments, thus, contributing to their lack of success in college.
In addition to the financial burdens that cause ethnic minority students not to succeed
in college, many ethnic minority students have a difficult time adjusting to the academic
demands that are associated with college due to the poor quality of education they received
during secondary school. Many are ill-prepared for college-level coursework because innercity secondary schools are not provided the funds that are necessary to ensure that its students
are being provided the academic resources and tools that help to prepare its students for
college. A chart entitled “Minority Funding Gaps by State”, a nation-wide analysis on
educational funding, showed that “[i]n 28 states, school districts with high- minority

enrollments received less per-pupil funding . . . than districts with low minority levels”
(Clemmitt 364). In turn, many ethnic minority students feel unprepared and burdened by
college-level coursework; this cripples their chances of succeeding in college.
As a result of being ill- prepared for college-level coursework, most ethnic minority
students have low self-esteem which negatively impacts their academic performance; often
times, this decreases the likelihood of college completion for most ethnic minority students.
Research suggests that “students who are academically unprepared for the rigors of collegelevel coursework . . . are placed at an increased risk of dropout at the postsecondary level”
(Ward, Strambler, and Linke 313). Ethnic minority students often times are unprepared for
college and this causes them to suffer from low self-esteem as it is likely they feel left behind
or incompetent which causes them to drop out of college. This would explain why, “[i]n 2011
[only] 20% of African American [students] and 13% of Hispanic [students] . . . completed a
bachelor’s degree or higher” (Ward, Strambler, and Linke 313). The correlation between low
self-esteem and college completion rates among ethnic minority students is evident. In essence,
the decline in college completion amongst ethnic minority students is due to low academic
self-esteem.
Ultimately, the lack of success ethnic minority students have in college eventually leads
to them having underprivileged lifestyles: a cycle that many adult minorities are caught in.
According to C. Feliciano and M. Ashtiani, “[p]ersistently low academic performance,
graduation rates, college enrollment and completion rates among African American students
negatively impact their ability to successfully transition into the world of work” (qtd. in Ward,
Strambler, and Linke 313). It used to be that if a person did not have a college education, he or
she could still possibly land a fair-paying job. Contrarily, in this “new, global, technical

economy” a college degree is essential in order for one to be able to compete in the job market
(Clemmitt 9). With the expansion of global businesses, a college degree helps to set one apart
in the job market. In short, ethnic minority students who are unable to attain a degree often
times have to get jobs that are unfulfilling and require very little skills, which is not conducive
to achieving a privileged lifestyle.
Ethnic minority students are not succeeding in college due to being bogged down by
the rising cost of college tuition, by not having the necessary academic skills needed to thrive
in college, and having a lack of motivation to finish school produced by low self-esteem,
which ultimately causes them to repeat the cycle of having underprivileged lifestyles. Ethnic
minority students are born into this cycle, and many struggle to get out of it with very few
resources. Everyone should be able to build a better life for themselves, especially, those who
are going about doing so legally. However, most ethnic minority students are simply in
situations where the odds are stacked against them.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways to bring an end to this travesty that has become
the social norm. Many experts argue that increasing educational funding for inner-city
secondary schools is the most ideal and practical solution to closing the educational gap
between ethnic students and non-ethnic students. This would level the playing field by
enabling ethnic minority students to be able to have just as much of a chance as non-ethnic
students in regard to being able to succeed in both college and, ultimately, life. Research shows
that increasing educational funding “eliminate[s] between two-thirds and all of the gaps in . . .
adult outcomes between those raised in poor families and those raised in non-poor families”
(qtd. in Yettick). Increasing educational spending for inner-city school districts would benefit
ethnic minority students, as they would have access to better teachers, hence, access to quality

education. A majority of critics argue that “ensuring a highly qualified teacher in every
classroom is critical to closing achievement gaps and maximizing students learning” (Clemmitt
14). However, many urban schools have a difficult time attracting highly qualified teachers due
to the low paying salaries offered to the instructors. Marcia Clemmitt, a veteran social policy
reporter, explains this disparity:
Often schools with the greatest needs and, consequently, the most challenging
working conditions, have the most difficulty retaining talented teachers . . .
Many hard-to-staff schools are high-poverty inner-city school[s] . . . that, as a
consequence of their location in economically depressed or isolated districts,
offer comparatively low salaries and lack [the] amenities with which other
districts attract teachers. (14)
That is to say, increasing educational funding for inner-city schools would attract more
qualified teachers who would be able to prepare for higher learning.
Additionally, students from low-income households, which would mainly be ethnic
minority students, would benefit from increased educational spending for life. Those who
attended inner-city schools that increased their spending “were 20 percent less likely to fall
into poverty . . . their individual wages were 25 percent higher than they would have been
without the changes . . . and their family incomes were 52 percent higher” (Yettick par. 7).
With this information, one can concur that the amount of funds that is invested into school
districts significantly impacts the lives of the students and helps them to escape the cycle of
having underprivileged lives.
In order to make educational equity a reality, legislation would need to implement a
“fiscal mechanism that achieves equal educational opportunity . . . by eliminating or

substantially reducing the link between local fiscal resources available to a school district and
its ability to provide public education” (Reschovsky par. 3). In short, legislation would have to
create a new finance plan that significantly increases the amount of money that inner-city
school districts receive, because, as of now, “local property tax continues to provide a
substantial portion of school district revenues, districts with large amounts of property wealth
will spend more on public education and will provide higher quality public education than
poorer school districts” (Reschovsky par. 4). Being that inner-city schools are not located in
areas that have a lot of wealth, these schools do not receive a decent amount of funding from
their communities. According to Joydeep Roy, “a professor at Columbia University and a
senior economist at the New York City Independent Budget Office, it is slightly tricky to
compare across states when each state’s financing formula might involve many unique
features” (qtd. in Yettick par. 29). It would be irrational to suggest that a national fiscal
reformation within the school system would be an easy thing to do; however, it could be done
if legislation made budget cuts and focused a larger percentage of their spending on education.
Ethnic minority students, for the longest, have not had access to quality education due
to not having access to well-educated, high-standard teachers; this has negatively affected the
outcome of the lives of many ethnic minority peoples as they often times have to work
underpaid and unfulfilling jobs. Ultimately, the problems ethnic minority students face in
college leads to them having underprivileged lives. However, an increase in educational
funding is indeed the solution to this discrepancy. It is time for a nationwide fiscal reformation
that enables every student to receive a quality education that sets him or her on the path to a
bright future. Besides, all individuals should be afforded an equal opportunity to create a better
life for themselves.