African American College Students Are Increasingly Studying Abroad

Historically, African American college students have been far less likely than their White peers to spend a semester or two studying abroad. Financial considerations are undoubtedly a major reason for the shortfall.

But over the past decade, African Americans are increasing their share of the pool of students who travel abroad to take classes at colleges and universities across the globe. In 2005-06 academic year, 3.5 percent of all American college students who studied abroad were Black. Since that time the percentage of Blacks in the study abroad pool has increased each year.

According to the Institute of International Education, in the 2010-11 academic year, Blacks made up 4.8 percent of the total of 273,996 students who studied abroad. Thus, approximately 13,150 Black students took advantage of study abroad opportunities that year.