Aligned with patterns seen at other prestigious higher education institutions (see Yale and Carnegie Mellon) across the country, the University of Virginia (UVA) experienced a decline in Black student enrollment this semester, according to a report from the university’s student-run newspaper The Cavalier Daily.
White and Asian students represent about a combined two-thirds of UVA’s Class of 2030, representing 45.1 percent and 21.4 percent, respectively, of the first-year class on campus this fall. In comparison, just 9.5 percent of the class are Hispanic students and only 4.8 percent are Black students. This is a decline from Black students’ representation of 6.1 percent in the Class of 2029 and 8.2 percent in the Class of 2027. Black student enrollment in the Class of 2030 is below that of multi-racial students (6.1 percent) and international students (5.9 percent). Some 6.4 percent of the UVA Class of 2030 did not disclose their race.
Although White students remain the vast majority of students at UVA, White student enrollment experienced the largest percentage point decline of any racial group this year, dropping 2.6 percentage points from the Class of 2029. Hispanic student enrollment is virtually unchanged this year, and Asian student enrollment is up by 2.2 percentage points.
Some 9 percent of Black students who applied to UVA this semester received an offer. Of those students, 39 percent enrolled. A decade ago, 35 percent of Black incoming first-year students who applied to UVA received an offer, and 35 percent of those students chose to enroll.
