Some of Georgia’s colleges and universities do well in graduating African American students, says a report released March 1.
Only about four in ten African American students who start college as first-time, full-time freshmen earn bachelor’s degrees from those institutions within six years. That is 22 percentage points below that of white students, according to the Education Trust, a nonprofit that promotes academic achievement, especially students of color.
Education Trust’s report examines graduation rates for African-American students and the completion gap between black and white students at 676 public and private nonprofit institutions, as well as four-year, for-profit institutions.
Georgia State, where nearly one in three freshmen is African American does very well comparatively. A higher percentage of its African American students graduate in six years than their white counterparts on campus.
Graduation rates for Georgia State's black students have more than doubled over the past decade, and the university now confers more bachelor's degrees to African Americans than any not-for-profit college or university in the U.S., according to an earlier report.
“Georgia State University is committed to the idea that students from all backgrounds can graduate at high and comparable rates,” said Timothy Renick, the university’s vice president for enrollment management and student success. “As the latest research from the Education Trust confirms, we can achieve this goal. At Georgia State, race no longer is a predictor of who graduates and who does not.”
Other Georgia colleges and universities do better in graduation rates, but have far fewer African American students.
Here’s the report’s rundown of the state’s best at meeting the mark for graduating African Americans:
Emory - 90 percent grad rate, 8.6 percent African American freshmen
University of Ga. - 78 percent graduation rate, 7.2 percent African American freshmen.
Georgia Tech - 73 percent graduation rate, 4.9 percent African American freshmen.
Agnes Scott - 73.7 percent graduation rate, 19.4 percent African American freshmen.
Georgia College and State University, 59.6 percent graduation rate, 4.3 percent African American freshman.
Georgia State University, 55.5 percent graduation rate, 29.5 percent African American freshmen.
You can find the full report at https://edtrust.org/
About the Author
