It’s back-to-school season, and at many Illinois colleges and universities — including Chicago State University — students are returning to campus after more than a year of hybrid or remote learning. This return to in-person learning, with intentional precautions and adaptations to protect student and faculty safety, will support strong student outcomes.
Yet, there is a growing, urgent crisis facing Black students and families in Illinois that requires the immediate attention of legislative, corporate, community and educational leaders.
Illinois is failing Black students on every measure of college success from readiness, enrollment, retention, progression and graduation to earnings after college completion. According to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, Black students’ college attendance dropped 34% in Illinois between 2013 and 2019. Those are pre-pandemic numbers.
Given the disproportionate health and economic impacts of COVID-19 on Black families and communities, and enrollment patterns over the last year, we know the educational divide is not only widening but accelerating. How much the equity gap grows depends on the actions we take now.
The disparities that COVID-19 has exacerbated for Black communities have been well-documented. At the height of the pandemic last summer, Black Americans were twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as white Americans. Further, Black communities carried the brunt of the economic impacts: They have been more likely to serve in “essential” roles, suffered disproportionate job losses, and are now being left out of the recovery according to a new report by Illinois Policy.
CSU faculty predicted these outcomes last summer, forecasting Black individuals to face unemployment rates twice the rate of white individuals due to discriminatory hiring patterns that arise during economic downturns.
The data on the widening educational divide demonstrates a startling and multifaceted challenge.
In the spring 2021 semester, enrollment nationwide declined by 5.9%, while Black enrollment dropped 8.8%.
Applications for financial aid through Free Application for Federal Student Aid dropped 9.7% nationwide for new students.
Black and Latinx community college student enrollment in Illinois declined 19% in fall 2020, compared with 12% for white students.
With a college education serving as an essential pathway to careers that provide family-sustaining wages, any drop in college attendance hinders our state’s economic recovery and community development. For Illinois to fully recover from this pandemic, we need to close Illinois’ racial equity gap in higher education.
Meaningfully addressing this persistent and growing crisis requires collaboration from all sectors — the business community, civic and community organizations, pre-K-12 and higher education institutions, workforce development providers, elected officials, government agencies and philanthropists.
With this understanding, CSU convened 45 multisector leaders from across the state of Illinois, including Women Employed, to identify and address policies deeply rooted in systemic racism that have created this crisis in Black student access and success.
This group recently released our “Equity Working Group for Black Student Access and Success in Illinois Higher Education” Action Plan. The plan includes measures related to access and affordability, institutional preparedness and support, critical legislative initiatives, enrollment and program choice, student well-being, and connection to career resources. These strategies will remove the challenges Black students face at multiple points in their higher education journey.
The enrollment declines we’ve seen in the last six years demonstrate what will happen if we continue “business as usual” and don’t address the clear history of systemic bias facing Black students. The educational divide will widen and our economy will not reach its full potential.
To facilitate a collective response of employers, legislators, civic institutions and more, CSU will launch later this year the Illinois Center for Education Equity. The work of the Illinois Center for Education Equity will provide the focus and framework Illinois needs to directly address this equity gap.
CSU and Women Employed urge diverse leaders to join us in this critical effort. Most immediately, it is an all-hands-on-deck call to support our Black students to stay the course and pursue a college education. Over the long term, we need committed partners from across Illinois supporting the work of the Illinois Center for Education Equity through financial contributions, expertise and partnership in implementing the strategies outlined in the Action Plan.
We simply cannot wait. Illinois is losing out on Black talent and that is hurting us all. Together, we can ensure an equitable and robust post-pandemic economy that is inclusive of all Illinois residents. Let’s tackle this crisis once and for all and make Illinois a leader in education equity.
Zaldwaynaka “Z” Scott is the president of Chicago State University. Cherita Ellens is the president and CEO of Women Employed, an organization advocating for equity for women in the workplace.
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