University of Minnesota Aims to Boost Retention and Graduation Rate of Black Students
For students who enrolled at the flagship Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota in the fall of 2010, 80 percent of Whites earned their degrees within six years. For African Americans the figures was 63 percent. The university hopes to narrow the gap.
The Large Gender Gap in Degree Attainments Among African Americans
During the 2015-16 academic year, African Americans earned 570,354 degrees and certificates at degree-granting institutions in the United States. Of these, 65.3 percent were earned by Black women. Black women earned nearly 70 percent of all master's degrees awarded to African Americans.
The College Graduation Rates of African American Student Athletes
According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, 59 percent of Black students entering college in 2010 on athletic scholarships at a group of the nation's largest universities earned their diplomas within six years. This is 13 percentage points higher than the rate for Black students as a whole at these universities.
A Record Number of Doctoral Degree Awards at Grambling State University
Last month seven students were awarded doctorates in developmental education at Grambling State University in Louisiana. This is the largest number of doctoral degrees awarded in university history. One of the seven students is a grandfather who has been serving as a lecturer in the College of Business at Grambling.
The Racial Gap in Educational Attainment in the United States
African Americans are showing steady progress in degree attainments at all levels. However, significant racial gaps persist at every level of education. Some 38 percent of non-Hispanic White adults hold a college degree compared to 24 percent of African American adults.
Intervention Succeeds in Boosting Retention of Students From Underrepresented Groups
A new intervention program developed at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis has been proven successful in boosting the retention rate and grade point averages of students from underrepresented groups.
The Very Large Racial Gap in College Graduation Rates Persists
The statistics show that 35.8 percent of Black students who enrolled at four-year colleges in 2010 had earned a diploma by 2016. For Whites, 60.7 percent of students who entered college in 2010 had graduated by 2016.
Racial Disparities in College Enrollment and Retention in Los Angeles
A new study examines college enrollment and retention rates of graduates of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The data shows a high level of participation in college but low levels of successful completion.
Education Department Report Documents Educational Inequality in the United States
The report contains data on African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, American Indians and other ethnic groups. There are detailed tables on enrollments, educational achievement, retention, student behavior, degree attainments, and outcomes of education.
New Report Shows Blacks Still Lag in Degree Attainments
In the 2015-16 academic year, Blacks earned 10.2 percent of all degrees granted by four-year educational institutions in the United States. Blacks women outpaced Black men by a large margin at all levels of degree attainment.
Is Federal Graduation Rate Data Unfair to HBCUs?
A new report from the American Council on Education shows that the methodology used by the U.S. Department of Education to compute the graduation rate at HBCUs paints an unfair picture of the performance of these educational institutions in graduating their students.
Alabama State University Awards Its First Master of Social Work Degrees
Seven students, all of whom previously had earned bachelor's degrees in social work at Alabama State University, were recently awarded the university's first master of social work degrees.
New Report Confirms the Large Racial Gap in College Completion Rates
A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center finds that for students entering college in 2010, more than two thirds of White students, 67.2 percent, earned their degree within six years. This was more than 21 percentage points higher than the degree completion rate for African Americans.
Study Finds Colleges Can Share the Blame for the Racial Gap in Graduation Rates
A new study by researchers at New York University, Florida State University, and Southern Methodist University finds that more than 60 percent of the racial gap in college completion rates may be attributed to factors that occur before college.
The Racial Gap in College Graduation Rates
If we look at all four-year educational institutions, we find that 39.5 percent of African Americans who entered these institutions in 2009 seeking a bachelor's degree earned their degree within six years. For Whites seeking bachelor's degrees, the graduation rate was 59.4 percent.
The Education Trust Examines the Racial Gap in College Graduation Rates
The report identifies 18 universities where the Black graduation rate is either higher than the rate for White students or is only slight lower than the rate for White students. In contrast, the report identifies 21 universities where the graduation rate gap is very large.
The Heavyweight Champion of Black Doctoral Degree Awards
African Americans were awarded 682 doctoral degrees from Walden University between 2011 and 2015. This is almost double the number of doctoral degrees awarded by Howard University, which ranks in second place in doctoral degree awards to blacks from 2011 to 2015.
The Persisting Racial Gap in Doctoral Degree Awards
The percentage of all doctoral degree recipients who are African Americans is increasing at only a snail's pace. In 2005, Blacks were 6.2 percent of all U.S. citizens and permanent residents who earned doctorates. In 2015 the figure was 6.5 percent.
Elite Colleges and Universities Mount Effort to Boost Enrollments of Low-Income Students
The American Talent Initiative, funded by the Bloomberg Philanthropies, hopes to expand to 270 educational institutions nationwide. It has set a goal of enrolling and graduating 50,000 students from low-income families by 2025.
University of South Florida Looks to Boost Black Student Graduation Rates
At the University of South Florida, the six-year graduation rate for Black students who entered the university in 1999 was 50 percent. Ten years later in 2009 the rate was 69 percent. But the university is taking further steps to boost the Black student graduation rate to new heights.
Latest Data on African American Degree Awards From U.S. Colleges and Universities
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education shows that in the 2014-15 academic year African Americans earned 340,946 degrees and certificates from four-year institutions. They made up 10.5 percent of all individuals who were given degrees or certificates from four-year institutions.
Black Women Now Have the Highest Graduation Rate at the University of Georgia
The Office of Institutional Diversity at the university reports that for students who entered the university in 2008, 92.8 percent of all African American women had either earned their degrees within six years or had transferred to another educational institution. The rate for the student body as a whole is 84.6 percent.
The Youngest Woman Recipient of a Ph.D. in Africa
Muswenkosi Donia Saurombe is on track to receive Ph.D. in industrial psychology from the North West University in Mafikeng, South Africa, this October. At the age of 23, she will be the youngest women in African history to earn a Ph.D.
Tracking African American Progress in Higher Education
A new 188-page report from the U.S. Department of Education offers a wide-ranging summary of most of the important educational statistics on enrollment, financial aid, graduation rates, degree attainments etc. as they pertain to race all in one place.
An Educational Milestone for April Gillens at Clemson University
Earlier this month, April Gillens became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in environmental engineering and earth sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina.
New Data on African American’s Enrollments and Degree Awards in Higher Education
The data shows that in the 2014-15 academic year, there were 3,810,300 African Americans enrolled at degree-granting institutions in the United States. They made up 13.9 percent of the total enrollments in higher education.
Thirty NFL Players Complete an Executive MBA Program at the University of Miami
Some 30 current or former players in the National Football League, most of them African Americans, were among the program's first graduating class.
A Black Woman’s Half-Century Journey to a Bachelor’s Degree
Delores Ojunga-Andrew is a Black woman who is a member of the Class of 2018 at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. At age 72, she is the oldest student enrolled at the women's college.
The Brotherhood Initiative at the University of Washington Looks to Boost Graduation Rates
The goal of the new Brotherhood Initiative being launched this fall is to reduce the graduation rate gap between Black men and Black women and also to close the racial graduation rate gap. Joe Lott, an associate professor of education is leading the initiative.
Tracking the Progress of African Americans in Degree Attainments
In master's degree awards, the gains for African Americans were the most impressive. The percentage of African Americans among all master's degree recipients jumped from 9.0 percent in 1999-2000 to 12.5 percent in 2009-10.
Black Identical Twins Each Had the Highest GPA at FIU’s College of Engineering and...
Shalisha and Shonda Witherspoon are identical twins. They recently graduated from the College of Engineering and Computing at Florida International University in Miami with identical 3.95 grade point averages, the best in the college.
Third Sister From Same Family Named Valedictorian at Dillard University
Stephanie Akpapuna from Lagos, Nigeria, is the third member of her family to be named valedictorian at Dillard University in New Orleans. She will continue her education in the master of fine arts degree program in stage and production management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
The First African American to Earn a Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of...
Adrienne Washington of Morgantown, West Virginia, is a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia. She received a master's degree in linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh.
Howard University Issues Tuition Rebates to Students Who Graduated Within Four Years
Howard University, the historically Black research university in Washington, D.C., has issued a 50 percent rebate on the last semester's tuition for students who completed their degrees in the traditional four-year time frame.
The Racial Gap in Educational Attainment in the United States
More than one third, 36.2 percent, of adult non-Hispanic White Americans in 2015 had obtained a bachelor's degree. For adult African Americans in 2015, 22.5 percent had earned a bachelor's degree.
HBCUs Awarded 448 Doctorates in 2014, an All-Time High
The 448 doctorates awarded by HBCUs is the highest total since JBHE began tracking this statistic. In 2014 there was a 13 percent increase in HBCU doctoral awards from the previous year.
