Fewer than 10 percent of students at Utah's public colleges are minorities, but the numbers are growing thanks to efforts the state is making.

Last spring, the Utah System of Higher Education created a task force on minority and disadvantaged students. The task force released five recommendations in December of that year.

The plan was to have schools designate a senior administrator to work with minorities and for college prep to begin early with all-day kindergarten and a tough high school curriculum. The task force also recommended that the state create more opportunities for need-based financial aid (as opposed to merit-based) and that schools work on mentoring and outreach programs as well as marketing to minority and disadvantaged students.

"We wanted to really look at what the research was saying," said David Doty, who co-chaired the task force.

In the 2006-07 school year, 9 percent of the state's public college students were ethnic minorities, while census numbers say about 10 percent of Utahns were not white in 2005.

Getting minority and disadvantaged students to go through some kind of post-high school education is important economically.

"I think that post-secondary education is simply becoming critical for personal and economic well-being in today's society. Long gone are the days when you could enter the work force with a high school diploma," Doty said. "We feel like it is important to get as many people into college and out of college with either a certificate or a degree."

UVSC spokeswoman Megan Laurie said Utah Valley State College has been working on the same things for a while.

"Over the past three years we've done quite a lot," Laurie said.

The school has a minority recruiter and has launched marketing campaigns geared toward them.

All of UVSC's recruitment material has been translated into Spanish. They also have an orientation for minority students with the multicultural center and a mentoring program.

Yissel Lingenbrink, UVSC's in-state high school recruiter and chair of the school's Hispanic recruitment committee, said the school tries to have people available who speak Spanish at moment's notice. She also tried to be available for prospective students. Lingenbrink said she gets text messages from prospective students in the middle of the night.

She said the campaign is causing changes. "It's definitely working. They feel more comfortable," she said.

Minority and disadvantaged students may be skipping out on post-secondary education for a variety of reasons. Doty said it could be cost. It could be lack of family support, lack of preparation or even a language barrier.

Lingenbrink said some students just don't know how to apply or even that there is financial aid available.

Amanda Covington, spokeswoman for the system of higher education and board of regents, said the state has made progress.

"We accomplished quite a bit," she said.

During the 2007 Legislature, many of the task force's goals were met. Doty said the Legislature allocated $2 million for need-based financial aid and programs.

"These need-based grants are really important to these students," Doty said.

The Legislature also allocated $500,000 for the Utah Scholars program, which provides a rigorous curriculum for high school students.

Doty said the task force is preparing to do more.

"That's what we accomplished in year one, and now we're gearing up for year two," Doty said.

He said they will continue to seek money for need-based financial aid and finding campus resources for these students.

"We want every young person to plan on something past high school," Doty said.

Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it