Underrepresented minority students have varied characteristics but have lower participation rates and attrition rates that are higher. The barriers to equal participation in higher education are known, as are ways of overcoming them. There is no alternative to the simultaneous pursuit of quality and equality. (MSE)

State initiatives in the 1980s were first directed to quality improvement in higher education. The cumulative impact of these initiatives on minority participation and degree achievement, with declining federal affirmative action, caused many states to move equity to top priority. Recent studies of state-level initiatives suggest necessary…

There are moral and economic reasons for addressing the issue of minority participation and achievement in higher education. Many programs have proven effective, but state and institutional leaders now need to take available knowledge and use it systematically in color-free strategies to make higher education more productive for all students. (MSE)

"Great society" financial aid programs successfully raised the curve of minority participation, but in the late 1970s, the curve flattened and is descending as college costs outpace financial aid. The most promising strategy for overcoming declining minority participation is to improve academic performance among low-income and minority students.…