Relationships Between Engineering Student and Faculty Demographics and Stakeholders Working to Affect Change*

Journal of Engineering Education, Apr 2004 by Johnson, Michelle J, Sheppard, Sheri D

Differences m preparedness along with issues of access to financial aid for college provide some explanations for students' decisions to attend two-year secondary institutions. Despite relatively high HS graduation rates of each ethnic subpopulation that ranged from 68 to 94 percent, each group's preparation for college differs. Proficiency in mathematics and science for twelfth-graders differ between male and female students, and underrepresented minority and Whites/Asians students [1O]. In 1996, studies report that in mathematics, 37 percent of both White and Asians students reach the top proficiency levels (levels 4 and 5), while only about 14 percent of underrepresented minority students attain top levels [10]. In science, 25 percent of both White and Asians students reach level 3 (the highest level), while only 8 percent of underrepresented minority students reach this same level. To counteract this trend, stakeholders offer pre-college initiative programs (Grades 7-12) to assist in preparing talented underrepresented minority students to prepare and compete at the college level. Since students' choices to pursue high levels of proficiency in mathematics and science courses in their middle and high school years affect their preparedness, NACME and MESA's pre-college initiatives, which offer mathematics and science tutoring programs, are important ways of influencing students' perception of preparedness and ability to compete if they enroll at a four year institution.

Underrepresented minority students typically have a lower socioeconomic status than their White and Asian counterparts and have more limited access to financing for postsecondary education. Thus, two-year junior and community colleges become attractive, low cost alternatives to more expensive four-year degree programs [1-3,5]. One study reports that family resources for underrepresented minority students, especially those in the lowest income quartile (below $40,000), had the potential to cover only a small fraction (one-third for lowest income quartile) of net college expenses at a four-year public institution and even lower at private institutions [33]. To assist with the financial hardship of attending a four-year university, stakeholders such as NACME, MEPs, and the engineering societies provide financial support as well as distribute scholarship information to eligible students. According to NACME since 1980, about 15 percent of all African American, Eatino, and American Indian engineering graduates went through college with NACME Scholarships (over 17,000 total).

Data indicate that between 11-20 percent (1995-1996 data) of underrepresented minority students who earned bachelor's degrees in science and engineering had previously earned an associate's degree. May and Chubin [33] conclude that stakeholders should also work to create policies that eliminate barriers to transfers from two-year to four-year schools.

B. Decision Points D: Enrolling in an Engineering Program

The decision to enroll in an engineering program is a critical point where more female than male students and more underrepresented minorities than Whites and Asians students exit the engineering pipeline. Findings from the HS&B/So study [4] indicate that although 10.4 percent of all freshmen report their intention to major in engineering, only 63.4 percent of the 10.4 percent reach the point where they had sufficient mathematics and science classes to enroll in engineering. Students did not enroll because: (1) they were not enrolled in an institution that supported a bachelor's degree in engineering; (2) they realized that they did not have sufficient mathematics and science preparation; (3) they were disillusioned about engineering and chose it for the wrong reasons; and/or, (4) they realized engineering was not for them.