Many Black, Latino students graduating in Texas’ top 10% aren’t enrolling in college

Malik Childs, 19, worked throughout high school to save as much money as he could for college.

Because he graduated in the top 10% of Mesquite High School’s graduating class in 2020, Childs was guaranteed automatic admission to nearly all state universities. But he still experienced a hesitation that many encounter when transitioning into college.

Family obligations often mean some top grads have to care for a parent or sibling or work to support the household, he said.

So leaning into a full-time job was tempting for Childs. But his desire to change the statistics regarding the scarcity of Black doctors throughout the country motivated him more. Now a sophomore at the University of North Texas at Dallas, Childs plans to attend medical school.

“Everybody thinks of that now versus the later, but my parents instilled in me to focus on the future,” Childs said. “I just always knew that I would make more money by going to school versus working at a job.”

State officials worry that too many of Texas’ top students of color like Childs aren’t going on to college. Before the pandemic hit, nearly 17% of the state’s Black students and 16% of Latinos who graduated in the top 10% of their classes not only skipped a state school but also didn’t show up enrolled at any other college or university in the country, said Harrison Keller, Texas’ commissioner of higher education. By comparison, about 10% of white students didn’t show up in enrollment data nationwide.