Redefining the Colorado Paradox: as minority populations rise, higher ed prepares for the students of the future.

• Author: Caley, Nora
• Position: HIGHER EDUCATION

As colleges and universities look to the future, they are seeing more than just budget cuts. They are also adjusting to the evolving variety of students they will serve. That means older students, international students, people who don't speak English at home, and more people who struggle to come up with tuition money.

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By 2020 for every age group from zero to 44, the white population is projected to decline, while there is projected growth among people of color, notes Stephen M. Jordan, president of Metropolitan State College of Denver.

At the same time, retention rates for nonwhites in higher education have been traditionally lower than for whites. "The biggest challenge with this new population is not getting them in," he says. "It's putting in place programs that will help them succeed."

He points out that Colorado is a net importer of college-prepared people. The concept, often called the Colorado Paradox, refers to the fact that although Colorado ranks high among states with adults with post-secondary degrees, it ranks low among states with high school students who continue to college degrees. That may change, he says, as institutions respond to the state's changing demographics.

Jordan says that in the five years since he joined Metro, enrollment is up 25 percent, while the percentage of students of color has grown from 24 percent to 29 percent. The enrollment increases are partly due to successful efforts by public schools in the seven-county metro area to increase high school graduation rates among students of color.

"We are very clear about who it is we serve," he says. "Ninety-seven percent of our students are from the state of Colorado." Many are transfer students from community colleges, so Metro maintains close relationships with institutions that offer associate's degrees.

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To try to increase retention rates, Metro is piloting a program for 600 of the 3,500 freshman students. Students receive support services, junior and senior mentors and, when the Student Success Building is completed, classrooms dedicated to freshman classes. In the first year of the pilot, 81 percent of those 600 freshman students remained at Metro. The national average, Jordan says, is 75 percent, and Metro's freshman average was 68 percent last year.

Bruce Benson, president of the University of Colorado system, says the statistic he likes to use in presentations is that the minority will...