Among the Flagship State Universities, the University of Virginia Maintains a Huge Lead in Black Student Graduation Rates

JBHE calculations show that by a large margin the University of Virginia has the highest black student graduation rate of any state-chartered institution in the nation. The black graduation rate at the university is 88 percent. The next-highest black student college completion rate at a flagship state university is at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, the black student graduation rate is 74 percent, 14 percentage points below the black student graduation rate at the University of Virginia. The University of Michigan, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Texas all had a black student graduation rate of 71 percent.

Twelve other states have flagship universities that post a black student graduation rate of 60 percent or higher. These are the state universities in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Hampshire, Maryland, Florida, New York, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Washington, Alabama, and New Jersey.

Six states and the District of Columbia have flagship state-chartered universities at which the African-American student graduation rate is 34 percent or below. In addition to the University of the District of Columbia, the states that have flagship universities with a black student graduation rate below 34 percent are Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, and Nevada.

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