...As president of Philander Smith College, an HBCU, I cannot ignore these criticisms. To a degree, they are fair. About 56% of four-year college students graduate in six years. For blacks, that figure drops to 41% and at HBCUs is 38%.
On my campus, we've looked at factors such as race, but more noteworthy are socioeconomic factors. This past year, 76% of students were eligible for Pell Grants, generally meaning that they came from families earning less than $40,000 a year. Research has indicated that socioeconomic background is a strong predictor of college completion. A 2007 study by the Pell Institute found that while 73% of students from the upper quartile of income complete college degrees, only 12% from the bottom do.
