September 30, 2012

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

  • Less than one in five African-Americans 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 African-American students is 40 percent

Although the six-year national college degree completion rate for African-American students is 40 percent, there are huge disparities between the degree completion rates for African-American students among individual colleges and universities. With the high cost of college tuition and the huge amount of debt that many college students incur, African-American 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 African-American students mentioned in the report are:

  1. 97 percent: Harvard
  2. 95 percent: Vassar College (NY)
  3. 91 percent: Duke
  4. 89 percent: University of Southern California
  5. 88 percent: Rice (TX)
  6. 87 percent: Carnegie Mellon
  7. 87 percent: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY)
  8. 87 percent: Furman (SC)
  9. 85 percent: US Naval Academy
  10. 81 percent: Trinity College (CT)

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

  1. 24 percent: Stillman College (AL)
  2. 25 percent: Texas Wesleyan
  3. 27 percent: Gallaudet University (SC)
  4. 28 percent: Indiana University-Purdue University
  5. 33 percent: American International College (MA)
  6. 35 percent: Tiffin University (OH)
  7. 35 percent: Long Island University (NY)
  8. 36 percent: Faulkner University (AL)
  9. 36 percent: University of Massachusetts-Boston
  10. 37 percent: University of West Georgia

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