Minority Graduation Rates in the U.S.

African-American and Latino students graduate college at lower rates than do their white and Asian peers, but this discrepancy does not have to be inevitable, according to two new reports.

The reports, released in August 2010 by The Education Trust, highlight schools that have small gaps in graduation rates and profile schools that have larger gaps. Nationally, 60 percent of whites but only 49 percent of Latinos and 40 percent of African Americans who start college hold bachelor’s degrees six years later. At individual schools, the inequity varies wildly. At Wayne University in Detroit, fewer than 1 in 10 African-American students graduate within 6 years whereas the success rate is four times higher for white students. However, at the University of California, Riverside, graduation rates are 63 percent and 67 percent for Latino and African-American students, respectively.

The reports note that in schools where the gap in student graduation rates is smaller, some of the same initiatives tended to be embraced: learning communities, intensive tutoring, transition programs for at-risk students and systems that alert officials to struggling students. Additionally, The Education Trust’s College Results Online tool can be used to access graduation rates by race, ethnicity and gender for other four-year institutions not included in the reports.

The Education Trust is an advocacy group that promotes equal access to education for young people, especially the disadvantaged.
 

Read the reports.