Nationwide, the black student college graduation rate remains at a dismal low 45 percent. But the college completion rate has improved by six percentage points over the past six years. Yet as ever, the overall black-white gap in college graduation rates remains very large at 19 percentage points. One important development is that this year, for the first time in history, one half of all black women who enter college now go on to earn a diploma.

Solid improvements in black student college completion rates have occurred at most of the nation’s highest-ranked colleges and universities and at state-operated flagship universities. This is also true at a large number of historically black colleges and universities.

Throughout the nation, African-American enrollments in higher education have reached an all-time high. Combining both bachelor’s and graduate degree programs and two-year community college enrollments, there are now more than 2 million African Americans enrolled in higher education in the United States.

But a more important statistical measure of the performance and progress of blacks in higher education is not the number of black students entering college but how many are actually earning a college degree.

The economic gains that come from a four-year college degree are transparently obvious. Census Bureau data shows, as expected, that black students who earn a four-year college degree have incomes that are substantially higher than those of blacks who have only some college experience but who have not earned a degree.

The most exciting statistic is that, according to U.S. Census data, black students who complete a four-year college education now have a median income that is near parity with similarly educated whites

But, as in the past, the good news is severely tempered by the unacceptably low college completion rates for black students. According to the most recent statistics, the nationwide college graduation rate for black students stands at an appallingly low rate of 45 percent. This figure is 19 percentage points below the 64 percentage rate for white students. This is a huge disparity.

An essential result of the racial graduation rate gap is that only 19 percent of young black adults today hold a four-year college degree compared to 34 percent of young white adults.

However, there is positive news. Over the past six years, the black student graduation rate has improved by six percentage points. This is an important statistic. In this journal we have always contended that once blacks reach parity with whites in college graduation rates, other aspects of racial inequality will most likely disappear.

Black Women Far Outpace Black Men in College Completions

In each of the three years before the turn of the century, from 1998 through 2000, there was an annual one percentage point decline in the overall graduation rate of black men. But for the next seven years the graduation rate for black men has improved marginally by one percentage point each year. This year the black male graduation rate remained steady at a very low 38 percent. Looking back over 20 years, the positive news is that black men have improved their graduation rate from 28 percent to 38 percent.

“The nationwide four-year graduation rate for black students stands at an appallingly low 45 percent, 19 percentage points below the rate for white students.”

The most impressive story is the performance of black women. This year the college graduation rate for black women rose by one percentage point to 50 percent. This is the first time in history where one half of all black women students who enter a particular college will go on to earn their degree from the same institution. And over the past 20 years, the graduation rates for black women have shown strong and steady gains. Turning in a powerful performance over this period, black women have achieved spectacular improvement in college completion rates from 34 percent in 1990 to 50 percent in 2009. Despite this progress, black women have a college completion rate that is 17 percentage points below the rate for white women.

Colleges and Universities Reporting the Highest Black Student Graduation Rates

Invariably, the black student graduation rate for men and women is significantly higher at the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities. This is to be expected since these students enter college with much stronger academic credentials than is the case for lower-ranked schools. Also, these high-ranking colleges and universities tend to have large endowments and generous financial aid programs. In many cases black students at these schools do not have to worry about paying for college.

For many years Harvard University, traditionally one of the nation’s strongest and most dedicated supporters of affirmative action, has produced the highest black student graduation rate of any college or university in the nation. The 2009 data shows that Harvard’s current black student graduation arte is 95 percent, down one percentage point from a year ago.

Yale University also shows a black student graduation rate of 95 percent, tying Harvard for the highest rate in the nation. Princeton University ranks third with a black student graduation rate of 94 percent, a two-point improvement from a year ago. Amherst College and Williams College, the nation’s highest-ranked liberal arts colleges, both posted very strong black student graduation rates of 93 percent.

Stanford University recorded a black student graduation rate of 92 percent. Swarthmore College has a black student graduation rate of 91 percent. Trinity College, Rice University, the University of Pennsylvania, Wellesley College, and the University of Notre Dame all posted a black student graduation rate of 90 percent. Overall, this year there are 12 high-ranking colleges and universities with an African-American student graduation rate of at least 90 percent. This is identical to a year ago.

There are 19 additional high-ranking that have black student graduation rates of 86 percent on above. They are Smith College, Claremont McKenna College, Emory University, Davidson College, Johns Hopkins University, Wake Forest University, Vanderbilt University, Villanova University, and Duke University. Also reporting black student graduation rates of at least 86 percent are the University of Virginia, Washington University, Wesleyan University, Vassar College, Cornell University, Northwestern University, the College of the Holy Cross, the College of William and Mary, Brown University and Dartmouth College. All told there are 32 high-ranking colleges and universities with a black student graduation rate of at least 86 percent. This is good progress. Three years ago there were 21 colleges and universities with a black student graduation rate of 86 percent or above, 11 fewer than the case this year.

High-Ranking Institutions Reporting Low Black Student Graduation Rates

In 2007 all of the nation’s highest-ranked colleges and universities in our survey had a black student graduation rate of at least 70 percent. This was the first time since JBHE began reporting black student graduation rates that all of the nation’s highest-ranking colleges and universities posted a black graduation rate of at least 70 percent or above. Last year the black graduation rate at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia dropped from 72 to 69 percent. Washington and Lee has since improved its black student graduation rate to 75 percent.

“Twelve high-ranking colleges and black student graduation rate of 90 percent or higher.”

Kenneth P. Ruscio, president of Washington and Lee University, told JBHE that in 2003 new procedures were implemented aimed to increase the retention of African-American students. “African-American students at Washington and Lee meet individually with the associate dean of students on a regular basis to monitor progress and to provide personal and academic support. This early alert system allows any issues or concerns to be addressed quickly and effectively.” Further improvements in the black graduation rate are expected in coming years.

As a result of the improving situation at Washington and Lee University, once again all of the nation’s top-ranked colleges and universities have African-American graduation student rates of at least 70 percent.

Among the nation’s colleges and universities that are commonly highly rated, Middlebury College in Vermont has the lowest black student graduation rate at 70 percent. Other high-ranking colleges and universities showing black student graduation rates below 75 percent are Bowdoin College, the University of Michigan, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Explaining the Differences in Black Student Graduation Rates

Why are black student graduation rates very stroat some high-ranking institutions and considerably weaker at other top-ranked schools? Here are a few possible explanations:

• Clearly, the racial climate at some colleges and universities is more favorable toward African Americans than at other campuses. A nurturing environment for black students is almot certain to have a positive impact on black student retention and graduation rates. Although often troubled by racial incidents, Brown University is famous for its efforts to make its campus a happy place for African Americans. In contrast, the University of California at Berkeley has had its share of racial turmoil in recent years. The small number of black students on campus as a result of the abolition of race-sensitive admissions has caused many African-Americans on campus to feel unwelcome. This probably contributes to the low black student graduation rate at Berkeley.

“Black women as a group have improved college completion rate from 34 percent in 1990 to 50 percent in 2009 .”

• Many of the colleges and universities with high black student graduation rates have set in place orientation and retention programs to help black students adapt to the culture of predominantly white campuses. Mentoring programs for black first-year students involving upperclassmen have been successful at many colleges and universities. Other institutions appear to improve graduation rates through strong black student organizations that foster a sense of belonging among the African-American student population. The presence or absence of these programs may have some impact on graduation rates.
• Geographic location unquestionably plays a major role in black student graduation rates. For example, Bowdoin College in Maine is located in a rural area with a very small to negligible black population. The same holds true for Grinnell College in Iowa, Middlebury College in Vermont, and Carleton College in Minnesota. Black student graduation rates at many of these rural schools are lower than at colleges and universities in urban areas.
• The presence of a strong and relatively large core of black students on campus is important. Among the highest-ranked colleges and universities, institutions that tend to have a low percentage of blacks in their student bodies, such as Bates, Middlebury, Grinnell, Carleton, and Colby, also tend to have lower black student graduation rates. Black students who attend these schools may have problems adjusting to college life in an overwhelmingly white environment. And these schools are less likely to have a large number of black-oriented social or cultural events to make black students feel at home.
• Curriculum differences also play an important role in graduation rates. Carnegie Mellon University and MIT are heavily oriented toward the sciences, fields in which blacks have always had a small presence. It continues to be true that at many high-powered schools black students in the sciences have often been made to feel uncomfortable by white faculty and administrators who persist in beliefs that blacks do not have the intellectual capacity to succeed in those disciplines.
• High dropout rates appear to be primarily caused by inferior K-12 preparation and an absence of a family college tradition, conditions that apply to a very large percentage of today’s college-bound African Americans. But equally important considerations are family wealth and the availability of financial aid. According to a study by Nellie Mae, the largest nonprofit provider of federal and private education loan funds in the country, 69 percent of African Americans who enrolled in college but did not finish said that they left college because of high student loan debt as opposed to 43 percent of white students who cited the same reason.

Under almost any circumstance, a college education requires huge amounts of money. Not only are there very large outlays for tuition, books and travel, but, even more important, going to college takes a student out of the workforce for four years or more. The total bite into family income and wealth can amount to $200,000 or more per student. High and always increasing college costs tend to produce much greater hardships for black families.

Deep financial pockets enable some schools to provide greater financial aid than others. And this is a major factor in student graduation rates. Well-funded universities such as Princeton, which has the nation’s largest endowment per student and one of the nation’s most generous financial aid programs for low-income students, will undoubtedly claim an advantage in black student retention and, subsequently, in producing high graduation rates. Clearly, the availability of a high level of financial aid shields low-income black students from financial pressures that may force minority students to leave college to fulfill family obligations and financial responsibilities.

This journal has always placed a heavy emphasis on financial pressures as a major agent in producing low black graduation rates. But, undoubtedly, cultural and family issues bear a huge responsibility. Invariably, the critical problem is that a very high number of young blacks are entering college with wholly inadequate academic credentials, ambition and study habits.

We accept the view that a strong black student graduation rate is a good indicator of institutional success in racial integration of a given campus. But readers are cautioned that a lower graduation rate can also be a positive indicator of a college or university’s willingness to take a chance on academically dedicated young black students with substandard academic credentials.

Comparing Black and White Graduation Rates at High-Ranking Colleges and Universities

A strong case can be made that a better way of comparing the performance of the nation’s highest-ranked colleges and universities in successfully graduating black students is to examine the difference in the graduation rates between their black and white students. Using this comparison, a high-ranking institution such as Bryn Mawr College in suburban Philadelphia, which has a black student graduation rate of 82 percent – a figure below many of its peer institutions – nevertheless ranks high on a relative basis because its white student graduation rate of 83 percent is one percentage point higher than the rate for black students.

Many academics and administrators will be surprised to hear that there are in fact three highly ranked colleges in the United States that report a higher graduation rate for blacks than for whites. According to the latest statistics from Smith College, Grinnell College, and Trinity College, a black student on these campuses is more likely to complete the four-year course of study and receive a diploma than is a white student. JBHE has not been able to identify the reason for the anomaly that occurs at these institutions, which is markedly inconsistent with nationwide statistics.

At Claremont McKenna College in California, black and white students have identical graduation rates of 86 percent. Wellesley College has been a consistent performer. It reports that black students at Wellesley graduate at a rate only two percentage points below the rate for white students. Over the 17-year history of JBHE, women’s colleges tended to have small racial gaps in graduation rates. Bryn Mawr, Smith and Wellesley all have had small racial gaps in graduation rates.

At some other high-ranking educational institutions, the difference in black and white graduation rates is very small. At Swarthmore College, Emory University, Rice University and Yale University, the black student graduation rate is two percentage points below the rate for whites. At Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, Wake Forest University, Stanford University, Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, and Davidson College, the racial difference in graduation rates is only three percentage points.

“Fourteen high-ranking colleges report a black graduation rate that is 10 percentage points or more below the graduation rate for white students.”

All told, there are 27 high-ranking colleges and universities that have a favorable black-white graduation rate difference of five percentage points or less. There are 41 high-ranking universities where the racial gap in graduation rates is seven percentage points or less. Eight years ago only 16 high-ranking colleges and universities had a graduation rate gap of eight percentage points or less. This is a strong sign of progress.

But all the news is not good. Overall, 14 of the 58 colleges in our survey still report a black graduation rate that is 10 percentage points or more below the graduation rate for white students. Middlebury College and Bowdoin College both had white graduation rates that were 20 percentage points or more above the rate for blacks.

Shirley M. Ramirez is vice president for institutional planning and diversity at Middlebury College in Vermont. At Middlebury, there is a 24-point gap between the graduation rates of black and white students. Ramirez told JBHE, “Our very isolated and rural location in a very white state often presents a challenge to some of our students, but there are other factors. These include many stressors that are sometimes seen, including cultural transition, homesickness, pressing family circumstances, being a first-generation college student, financial limitations, etc.”

Trends in Black Student Graduation Rates at Highly-Ranked Universities

Now for some extremely positive and encouraging news. This is the long-term trend in black graduation rates at the nation’s high-ranking universities over the past decade. Of the 26 high-ranking universities for which JBHE has long-term college completion data, the black graduation rate has improved at 23 institutions. At the other three universities, the black graduation rate has remained the same. This is significant progress and very good news.

“None of the high-ranking universities has shown a decline in their black student graduation rate over the past decade.”

The greatest improvement in the black student college graduation rate occurred at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. There, the four-year average black graduation rate rose from 47 percent in 1998 to 78 percent in 2009. There has been an 11 percentage point gain at Carnegie Mellon over the past three years alone.

Similarly impressive gains in black student graduation rates occurred at the University of Pennsylvania, Rice University, UCLA, Columbia University, Emory University, the University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt University. Each university has seen its black student graduation rate improve by at least 13 percentage points over the 11-year period from 1998 to 2009. Columbia University, which had shown an eight percentage point drop in black student graduation rates from 1993 to 1999, has reported a rebound over the past decade. Since 1999 the black student graduation rate at Columbia rose from 72 percent to 85 percent.

Over the past decade, there has been a major improvement in the African-American student graduation rate at the University of California at Berkeley. Since 1993 the black student graduation rate at Berkeley has increased from 51 percent to 72 percent. A large part of this increase occurred in the 1993 to 1998 period. It is important to keep in mind that the dramatic rise in black student graduation rates at Berkeley occurred during a period in which the university was till pursuing a strong affirmative action admissions program. These figures suggest that, contrary to the view expressed by most racial conservatives, there was a strong improvement in black graduation rates during the recent period of intense affirmative action in admissions at Berkeley. These statistics tend to confirm that preferential admissions are not a big drag on black student college graduation rates.

The Trend in Black Student Graduation Rates at High-Ranking Liberal Arts Colleges

Many of the nation’s highest-ranked liberal arts colleges have been reporting graduation rates y race for only the past several years. In 2009, 15 of the 22 high-ranked liberal arts colleges in our survey showed an improvement in black student graduation rates from their 1998 rates. At Oberlin College in Ohio there was a huge 23 percentage point improvement in the decade from 56 percent to 79 percent. At Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, the black graduation rate has improved by 22 percentage points. At Macalester College in Minnesota there was a 20 percentage point gain since 1998. At Smith College the lack student graduation rate improved by 17 percentage points over the past decade. At Bates College, Davidson College, Claremont McKenna College, and Swarthmore College, the black student graduation rate over the past decade improved by at least 10 percentage points.

“In 2009, 15 of the 22 high-ranked liberal arts colleges in our survey showed an improvement in black student graduation rates from their 1998 rates.”

Seven highly-ranked liberal arts colleges saw a decline in their black student graduation rates over the past decade. The largest drop was at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. In 1998 the college posted a black graduation rate of 93 percent. This year the African-American student graduation rate stands at 80 percent. Hamilton College in New York and Bowdoin College in Maine both saw their black student graduation rate drop by more than 10 percentage points from 1998 to 2009.

“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 87 percent.”

Vassar College, Mount Holyoke College, Middlebury College, and Washington and Lee University also have shown decreases over the past 10 years in their black student graduation rates.

Comparing the Graduation Rates At Flagship State Universities

An important aspect of our report are graduation rates at the nation’s so-called flagship state universities. Always keep in mind that America’s large state universities educate three-fourths of all African American college students in the United States. In preparing this ranking of flagship state universities we are necessarily, in effect, gauging the success of the particular state in graduating large number of black students who for the most part live within the state. And this measure gives us a good indication of the graduation rate for the “average” black student in the state.

But this measure does not always present an accurate assessment of black students’ success in graduating from a college in a given state. At some state-chartered universities such as the University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia, the University of Maryland, and the University of Michigan, concerted efforts are in place to attract high-achieving black students from other states. For example, the University of Wisconsin has a program to recruit high-performing black students from Chicago’s public school system. An influx of talented black students at prestigious flagship universities from out of state tends to inflate the overall black student graduation rate at these universities.

With this caveat, our 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 87 percent. The next-highest lack student completion rate at a flagship state university is at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, the black student graduation rate is 76 percent, 11 percentage points below the black student graduation rate at the University of Virginia. The University of California at Berkeley ranked third with a black student graduation rate of 72 percent. The University of Texas, the University of Michigan, the University of Florida, and the University of Georgia all had a black student graduation rate of at least 70 percent.

Ten other states have flagship universities that posted an African-American student graduation rate of 61 percent or higher. These are state universities in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, South Carolina, Illinois, Washington, Alabama and New Jersey.

Five states and the District of Columbia have flagship state-chartered universities at which the African-American student graduation rate is 30 percent or below. In addition to the University of the District of Columbia, the states that have flagship state universities with a black student graduation rate of 30 percent or below are Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, New Mexico and Montana.

Long-Term Progress in Black Student Graduation Rates at Flagship State Universities

Among the best news reported here is that, nationwide, blacks are making tremendous progress in improving their graduation rates at flagship state universities, which combined, educate tens of thousands of black students. Among 25 flagship state universities with large numbers of black students, the graduation rate has improved at 23 institutions since 1998. The only exceptions are the University of Mississippi and the University of Virginia, where the black student graduation rate remained the same over the period.

“None of the flagship state universities with a large number of black students have shown a percentage decline in black students over the past decade.”

Some of the black graduation gains have been spectacular. For example, the black student graduation rate at the University of Florida has improved from 45 percent to 71 percent. At the University of Texas, the University of Georgia, and the University of Oklahoma, the black student graduation rate has increased by 20 percentage points or more since 1998. At the University of Connecticut, the University of Arkansas, the University of Maryland, the University of Massachusetts, Louisiana State University, and Ohio State University, the black student graduation rate has improved by at least 15 percentage points. At 15 flagship state universities with large numbers of black students, the black student graduation rate has improved by more than 10 percentage points since 1998.

The tremendous gains in black student graduation rates at the nation’s flagship state universities are due in part to more rigorous academic standards imposed at many institutions. In short, those institutions are beginning to attract more highly-qualified students who are focused on achieving academic success. Undoubtedly, more generous financial aid programs at some flagship state institutions are also responsible for higher black student graduation rates. And at many of these institutions, increased attention is being paid to programs aimed at increasing retention and graduation rates geared toward minority students.

Graduation Rates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

As has been true for many years, the graduation rate of African-American students at the nation’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) tends to be much lower than the graduation rate for black students at the nation’s highest-ranked institutions. However, the graduation rate at a significant number of HBCUs is well above the nationwide average for black student graduations, which, a stated earlier, currently stands at the extremely low rate of 45 percent. And many black colleges have shown considerable improvement in recent years in their black student graduation rates.

By a large margin, the highest black student graduation rate at a historically black college belongs to Spelman College, the academically rigorous, all-women’s school in the city of Atlanta. In fact, Spelman’s black graduation rate of 79 percent is equal to or higher than the black student graduation rate at 1o of the nation’s 58 high-ranking predominantly white colleges and universities referred to earlier. Spelman’s unusual strength shows in the fact that it has a higher black student graduation rate than do such prestigious and primarily white colleges as Colby, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Bowdoin, Chapel Hill and Carnegie Mellon.

“By a large margin, the highest black student graduation rate at a historically black college belongs to Spelman College in Atlanta.”

Following Spelman in the rankings, the next highest black student graduation rate among HBCUs was at Howard University. At Howard, 64 percent of the entering black students go on to graduate within six years. Morehouse College in Atlanta ranked third with a black student graduation rate of 60 percent. Claflin University in South Carolina, Hampton University in Virginia, and Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, sadly, are the only other HBCUs that graduate at least half of their black students within six years.

Here is the worst news of all: At 25 HBCUs, two-thirds or more of all entering black students do not go on to earn a diploma. The lowest graduation rate was at Texas Southern University, where only 12 percent of entering freshmen go on to earn a bachelor’s degree. At the University of the District of Columbia, Rust College and Virginia Union University, the black graduation rate was 15 percent or lower. The somewhat good news here is that two years ago the graduation rate at the University of the District of Columbia was only 8 percent.

The low graduation rates at black colleges are due to a number of reasons. Many of the private black colleges have puny endowments and therefore are not able to offer generous financial aid packages. Often black colleges offer financial aid packages for freshmen but are unable to furnish sufficient aid packages for upperclassmen to permit them to stay in school. This is a big factor contributing to high dropout rates.

Many of the students enrolled at these institutions are from low-income families, often ones in which there are few books in the home and where neither parent nor grandparent went to college.

But another important explanation for the high dropout rate at black colleges is the fact that large number of African-American HBCU students do not come to college with strong academic preparation and study habits. The graduation results at the HBCUs are worsened by the fact that flagship universities in the southern states often tend to shuttle the lowest-performing black applicants into black colleges in their states.

JBHE has collected student graduation rate statistics going back to 1998 for a group of 35 historically black universities. The good news is that during this period 21 of the 35 colleges and universities have seen an improvement in their black student graduation rates. Fourteen black colleges and universities showed a decline in their black graduation rate.

Over the past decade there have been huge differences in the graduation rates at some of these HBCUs. For example, at Howard University the black student graduation rate has improved from 47 percent in 1998 to 64 percent in 2009. Other schools showing large improvements in their black student graduation rates are Lincoln University in Missouri and Alcorn State University.

“At Howard University, the black student graduation rate has improved by 17 percentage points since 1998.”

In contrast, the black graduation rate at Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi has shown a drop of 18 percentage points. Virginia Union University shows a 13 percentage point drop in black student graduation rates over the past decade. At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, there was a 10 percentage point drop during the period.

There was also at least a five percentage point decline in the African-American student rate at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, Grambling State University, Stillman College, and Fayetteville State University.

In summation, JBHE’s analysis shows that blacks are making significant progress in improving their college graduation rates. This is particularly true at many of the nation’s highest-ranked educational institutions as well as at most of the nation’s flagship state universities. Also newsworthy is the fact that, for the first time, one half of all black women who enter college are now earning their diploma within six years.

“The racial gap in college graduation remains about the same as a decade ago.”

While progress has been made, it is important to note that, nationwide, the racial gap in college graduation rates between blacks and whites remains about the same as a decade ago.

The direction of the trend over the next several years will bear watching. The promise of the Obama presidency and increased opportunities for African Americans may be offset by the negative effect of the nation’s economy on black education applications.