September 30, 2012

A report by the Education Trust provides insight into the colleges and universities that are successfully increasing Hispanic student completion rates. The report, Advancing to Completion: Increasing degree attainment by improving graduation rates and closing gaps for Hispanic students, notes:

  • Less than one in five Hispanics between the ages of 25 to 29 has attained at least a bachelor’s degree
  • While 60 percent of all college students receive their degrees in 6 years, the percentage for Hispanic students is 47 percent

Although six-year national college degree completion rate for Hispanic students is 47 percent, there are huge disparities between the degree completion rates among individual colleges and universities. With the high cost of college tuition and the huge amount of debt that many college students incur, Hispanic parents and their children should pay close attention to each college’s degree completion rate as they engage in their college research and make the important decision of where to attend college.

The colleges and universities with the highest 6-year degree completion rate for Hispanic students mentioned in the report are:

  1. 98 percent: Penn
  2. 97 percent: Duke
  3. 97 percent: Harvard
  4. 96 percent: Wesleyan (CT)
  5. 95 percent: Notre Dame
  6. 92 percent: University of Chicago
  7. 88 percent: University of Southern California
  8. 87 percent: Santa Clara University (CA)
  9. 87 percent: Vassar
  10. 87 percent: University of Georgia
  11. 86 percent: Occidental College (CA)
  12. 84 percent: University of Dallas
  13. 83 percent: Boston University
  14. 81 percent: Point Loma Nazarene University (CA)

The colleges and universities with the lowest 6-year degree completion rate for Hispanic students mentioned in the report are:

  1. 28 percent: Wayland Baptist University (TX)
  2. 33 percent: Caribbean University-Ponce (PR)
  3. 39 percent: University of Colorado
  4. 40 percent: Stephen F. Austin (TX)
  5. 41 percent: Rhode Island College
  6. 44 percent: Dowling College (NY)
  7. 44 percent: Georgia Southern
  8. 44 percent: Southwestern Adventist University (TX)
  9. 43 percent: SUNY college at Buffalo (NY)
  10. 49 percent: Virginia Commonwealth

Visit theCollege Results Online website to view the graduation rates for most U.S. colleges and universities.