Here’s the good news about black students: Fifty-five percent of African American high school seniors go on to college, compared to 45 percent in 1970.
And here’s the bad news: Only 43 percent of African Americans who begin college graduate, more than 20 percent lower than their Caucasian counterparts.
And here’s worse news: the African American male graduation rate from college holds steady at a dismal 36 percent.
Some blame the atrocious numbers on lack of self-discipline.
That’s why “I stayed focused and I surrounded myself with people who are also focused,” Hampton University graduating senior Melanie French told CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell.
That wasn’t the case for Jared Council when he first rolled on the campus where President Obama delivered the commencement address Sunday, May 9. “I bought textbooks and didn’t open them,” he said. “I skipped classes often.”
Council ended his first semester on academic probation. He credits Hampton’s small classes, its emphasis on strong faculty-student relationships and even its mandatory curfew for freshman for helping him refocus. He posted a 1.9 GPA his first semester. He’s graduating with a 3.8 GPA.
Another reason for low graduation rates? At predominately black universities where the concentration of first generation and low-income students is high, the challenge can be daunting. Seventy percent of students who drop out cite lack of finances. Twenty percent of incoming students have to take remedial classes, but historically black colleges still produce 25 percent of the nation’s black graduates.
“When you take it collectively, we are a national resource for this country,” says Hampton’s president, William Harvey.
It’s encouraging that Hampton graduates 55 percent of its students within six years, but it still lags behind Harvard University (95 percent) and Yale University (94 percent), statistics show.
It’s not for lack of trying, according to Harvey. “We are going to continue to push the envelope to get our students to focus in order to graduate,” he says.
That caring attitude helped many student get over the hurdles and obstacles to graduate. “As soon as we stepped foot on campus, I could tell Hampton really wanted us to graduate,” said French.
When young blacks and students realize that someone cares about their well-being and future, they tend to perform better and graduate in higher numbers. Which is why HBCUs always have and continue to produce the highest number of black graduates. –terry shropshire
