The Highly Selective Liberal Arts Colleges That Have Shown the Greatest Improvements in Black Student Graduation Rates

Last week JBHE reported that 26 of the nation’s 27 highest-ranked universities have shown an improvement in their black student graduation rates over the last decade. Now we turn to the nation’s most selective liberal arts colleges.

JBHE data shows that of the 22 high-ranking liberal arts colleges for which we have 10-year data, 15 have shown an improvement in their black student graduation rates.

At Oberlin College in Ohio there was a huge 22 percentage point improvement in the decade, from 56 percent to 78 percent. At Macalester College in Minnesota there was a 20 percentage point gain since 1998. At Smith College the black student graduation rate improved by 19 percentage points over the past decade. At Trinity College, Davidson College, Bates College, Wellesley College, and Claremont McKenna College the black student graduation rate over the past decade improved by at least 10 percentage points.