Minority enrollment increases
By Kim Ha, contributing writer
Posted on November 13, 2006

JMU saw a 50 percent increase in minority applicants from 2004 to 2006.  As a result, freshman minority enrollment increased from 8.6 percent to 12.6 percent between 2004 and 2006.

Colleges and universities across the nation also saw a 51 percent increase in minority enrollment in the decade, ending in 2003, according to “Minorities in Higher Education: Twenty-Second Annual Status Report.”

“In 2000, we set out to diversify our faculty, staff and student enrollment,” Admissions Director Michael Walsh said. “We want to do our best to have JMU reflect the real world so that when our students walk into the real world, they’re not in for a culture shock.”

The number of students in high need of financial aid at JMU dropped in the 1990s when the Federal Pell Grant, financial aid for need-based students, stopped growing. Because of this, JMU saw a decrease in minority enrollment because a large number of them were high-need students.

The courts mandated that universities in Virginia must make a greater effort in integrating their schools. Predominantly white schools had to find ways to attract enrollment from other ethnic groups.

“We are using several approaches to make sure we get the right mix of students,” said Daniel Wubah, special assistant to the president.

To get that mix, JMU started the Professor in Residence program three years ago, which sends faculty to different high schools around the state to recruit minority students.

“We target high-minority high schools,” Wubah said.  The professor in residence works with the high schools to encourage students to consider higher education.

Wubah said attention must also be paid to retention of minority students. Admissions collaborates with the Center for Multicultural Student Services, as well as offering programs which keep students involved at JMU.

The Centennial Scholar Program, which is designed to increase minority student enrollment and diversify JMU, provides recipients with a full scholarship. Recipients in turn are active in weekly meetings and involved with the community.

“I’m a music major and JMU’s a music school,” said junior Maleika Cole, who is a recipient of the Centennial Scholarship. “I got a full scholarship, so it made sense for me to come here.”
 
Despite JMU’s location, its environment has served as an attracting factor to potential students.

Senior Nick Chuinklin said: “I wanted a change of scenery after having been raised in Northern Virginia all my life, yet I wanted to still be close to home, and I knew that JMU had a good business school.”
 
Walsh added that a number of students have chosen JMU over other institutions because they felt accepted and comfortable during visits.

“The key thing is, we’re doing a better job of attracting applicants and we’ve seen the number of our high-need students increase, too,” he said.