CHARLOTTE - Aug. 26, 2010 - Nationwide, significant gaps exist between six-year graduation rates of white students at colleges and universities and the rates of African-American and Hispanic students. UNC Charlotte is among a handful of public and private institutions that systematically have closed the race gap, according to two recent reports by the Education Trust, an organization whose mission is to promote high academic achievement for all students at all levels—pre-kindergarten through college.
According to Education Trust, 60 percent of whites who start college earn bachelor’s degrees six years later. For African-Americans, that rate is just 40 percent with a 49 percent rate for Latinos.
UNC Charlotte joins the University of California-Riverside and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro on the list of institutions that have eliminated their white-black graduation disparities.
 Associate Provost Academic Services 240 Cato 704-687-7226 cwolfjo@uncc.edu | In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, Cynthia Wolf Johnson, associate provost for academic services, discussed some of the University’s tactics that have worked to close the gap. She talked about the summer bridge program, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary, and the Student Advising for Freshman Excellence program, which provides intensive advising and support for between a third and half of first-year students. She credits the University’s “longstanding commitment to retention and graduation of minority students” for black student graduation rates that mirrors white students’ six-year rate of 50.1 percent. Overall graduation rates are significantly higher for participants in the University’s bridge and advising programs. |
Public Relations media contact: Buffie Stephens, 704.687.5830, BuffieStephens@uncc.edu
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