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Introduction
AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENROLLMENTS in higher education have never been higher. This is encouraging news. But enrollment in college is only the first step. Major economic gains for blacks occur mainly for those who are able to stay in college and earn their degree. The importance of college completion to economic success is beyond dispute.
Always the critical fact to keep in mind is that African Americans with a college diploma now have a median income that is about 90 percent of the median income of whites with a college degree. Unfortunately, black students' success rate in college completions is dismally low.
Here we present a series of statistics on the progress of blacks in completing college. First, we will examine black and white graduation rates at the nation's highest-ranked colleges and universities. Our second article will review graduation rates by race at the nation's historically black colleges and universities. Finally, we will take a broader look at black and white graduation rates by comparing the relative performance of all 50 states on their record in graduating black students. Included in this section is a comparison of black student graduation rates at the nation's 50 flagship state universities.
Here is a summary of the national trends. According to the most recent figures, the nationwide college graduation rate for black students stands at an appallingly low rate of 38 percent.(*) This figure is 22 percentage points below the rate for white students, which is 60 percent. The only positive news is hardly earth shattering. It is that this year the black student graduation rate improved by one percentage point. This reverses the decline in black graduation rates that has occurred in each of the past two years.
Black Women Outpace Black Men in College Completions
Prior to this year there was a one percentage point decline each year in the graduation rate for black men for three years in a row. But this year the graduation rate for black men improved by one percentage point to 32 percent. Over the past decade black men have improved their graduation rates from 28 percent to 32 percent. Over such a long period, there is not much good news here.
This year the college graduation rate for black women rose...