Where are all the students? An update

Abstract

This article reviews current issues related to ESL student admissions and programs at the university level. It starts by revisiting Carroll (1998), who first reported a decline in enrollment in college ESL programs at the City University of New York, and Otheguy and O’Riordan (2000), who confirmed the decline in the number of ESL students, who had been graduating and maintaining grade point averages comparable to other students. The present study attributes continuing declines to falling ELL graduation rates in New York City public high schools, increasing tuition, barriers to financial aid, mainstreaming, and academic stratification manifested through the sorting of students not only into four-year and two-year colleges but also into pre-college programs. The author recommends that CUNY set up a faculty ESL Task Force to examine more closely factors that could be contributing to declines and to determine if access to the university or the quality of education for immigrant students has been compromised.