University of Wisconsin Campuses Examine Minority Recruitment and Retention

Several campuses of the University of Wisconsin system have developed an “Equity Scorecard” to measure success in recruiting and retaining black and other minority students. Participating campuses include those at Milwaukee, Waukesha, Kenosha, and Whitewater. The flagship campus at Madison was not involved.

Some of the findings of the scorecard were:

• Black students at these campuses were three times as likely as white students to have off-campus jobs. The necessity of holding down a job while in college can adversely impact grades and therefore retention rates.

• Remedial programs designed to help students at risk of dropping out have had little or no beneficial effect for blacks and other minorities.

• Black and other minority students are more likely than whites to attend college part-time. Full-time students tend to perform better academically than part-time students.

Copyright © 2008. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.