27% of top college blacks came from immigrant families

Paul Basken:

Black students with U.S. ancestry appear to be less represented in college than race-based statistics indicate, as immigrants make up a disproportionate share of admissions, a Princeton University analysis found.

First- or second-generation immigrants made up 27 percent of black freshmen entering 28 top-ranked colleges in 1999, according to the study released Tuesday. Such immigrants accounted for only 13 percent of all U.S. blacks aged 18 or 19 that year, the researchers found.

''In other words, the representation of immigrant-origin blacks at selective institutions of higher education was roughly double their share in the population,'' said the report by Princeton sociology professor Douglas Massey and his colleagues at the New Jersey school and at the University of Pennsylvania.

The findings may revive claims that affirmative action designed to help the descendants of slaves are more likely to benefit high-achieving immigrants from countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Jamaica, the authors wrote.

The Immigrant Factor

Black U.S. University Population Studied

At the most selective universities, immigrants comprise a disproportionate number of black students

Black Immigrants and Black Natives Attending Selective Colleges and Universities in the United States