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OCTOBER 18 | 2012 | DEFENDER
1B
Higher Ed Choosing a college that’s
right for you
By ELESKA AUBESPIN Defender
N
ot everyone gets to attend two high schools on the opposite racial makeup spectrum. But Kodi Maxey did. Through his junior year, Maxey attended the mostly white Sterling High School in Baytown, but graduated from the mostly Black Wheatley High in Houston. Given that Maxey had both Black and white classmates, diversity was a factor when choosing a college.
“I didn’t want to go to a college that was all Black, Hispanic or white,” Maxey said. “Once you get into the real world, you are in a diverse world and I wanted my college campus to reflect that.” Maxey, a senior at Sam Houston State, also wanted a college close to home and one that had affordable tuition. “Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of both,” advises Maxey, who graduates in December with a degree in criminal justice, a career that tipped the scale toward enrollment at Sam Houston. “Think about proximity to home, what’s best for your major and even
the organizations you might be involved in.” According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are more than 4,000 degree-granting institutions of higher education in the United States. Nearly 3 million Black students, or 13.8 percent of all students, are enrolled in higher education. But Blacks did not always have access to universities, so schools were built specifically to educate them. Today, those HBCUs still exist and Blacks are faced with the dilemma of whether to attend a majority white institution versus the historically black college or university.
INSIDE
Continued on Page 9B
UH Downtown Preparing students Publisher’s message Prairie View A&M
2B 3B 3B 4B
Higher Ed dollars & sense Managing student debt Things to know about SAT Houston Community College
6B 7B 8B 8B
Tips on picking a college 9B Texas Southern University 10B Technical Careers 12B University of Texas 12B