Mind The Gap…

One Graduation Gap measure is the one that exists between white students and African-American students who graduate from a particular college. The smaller the gap, the better for all students attending.

The U.S. Census Bureau annually tracks the connection between educational attainment and annual income. Every year the income gap between those with a high school degree and with a 4-year college degree grows larger. In today’s economy, with its shrinking manufacturing sector, our students must come to see college as an integral part of their educational plan. While students and families from inner city public schools have increasingly bought into this equation, and have begun to enroll in college as a result, the reality is that they are not necessarily able to finish college. The gap between these students and their white counterparts is alarming.

Education Trust recently noted that only 40% percent of African-American and 47% of Latino students who enter 4-year colleges gain their bachelor’s degree within six years, compared to white and Asian students (59% and 66% respectively). Some colleges, however, have better degree attainment rates than others when it comes to first generation African-American and Latino college students. I have researched colleges and universities deemed to have better graduation rates for these students based on several reports: the Education Sector’s, “The Graduation Rate Watch: Making Minority Student Success a Priority”; Black Enterprise Magazine’s “50 Top Colleges for African-American Students”; and Hispanic Magazine’s “25 Top Colleges for Hispanics”. It is these measures that I used to determine which colleges I would visit on my Renaissance College Road Trip.