California's Latinos and blacks still lag whites and Asians in university eligibility

Despite recent improvements, Latino and black students continue to lag behind whites and Asians in becoming academically eligible to enter California's two public university systems, according to a state report just released. The study reported that 22.5% of Latino high school graduates were eligible for Cal State in 2007, up from 16% in 2003, when the last such study was done. For black students, Cal State eligibility went up to 24%, from 18.6%. Latino and black eligibility for UC's more rigorous standards were 6.9% and 6.3%,respectively, in 2007, slightly higher than four years ago. White and Asian students did better in meeting requirements for both universities. For Cal State, 37.1% of white high school graduates were eligible in 2007 and 50.9% of Asians, both somewhat higher than in 2003. For UC, 14.6% of white graduates and 29.4% of Asians met course, grade and test score requirements; those rates were both slightly lower than in the previous survey.