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The University System of Maryland schools have shown mixed results improving the gap between the graduation rates of minorities, low-income students and overall graduations rates.
The USM progress report released earlier this month showed that only four schools – The University of Maryland College Park, The University of Maryland Baltimore County, Towson University and Salisbury University – are improving graduation rate gaps and have overall rates above the USM average of 62 percent in 2013.
The most recent graduation rate data in the report is from the year 2013.
In terms of overall six-year graduation rates from students entering college in 2007 and finishing in 2013, SU is second in the state (67 percent) behind UMCP (84 percent) but had only 53 percent African American and 45 percent of Hispanic students graduate that span, fourth in the state behind Towson and UMBC.
SU Vice President of Student Affairs Dane Foust said the reason for this may be that there are less Hispanic students at SU and a small amount of students could drop that number substantially. However, he added that SU is close to improving those numbers.
Despite this dip in minority graduation rates, SU is on track to bounce back in 2015 with higher minority graduation rates. SU has higher second, third, fourth and fifth year retention rates in these categories for the 2009 cohort, ending in the Spring of 2015.
“We are strategic in our thinking in how to assist students academically,” Foust said. “We have faculty and staff committed to student success and are willing to go the extra mile to make that happen.”
Foust also credited programs like TRiO, which helps first generation college students achieve their academic goals, Living Learning Communities, Supplemental Instruction, the Sophomore Residency Program and Powerful Connections for SU’s higher-than-average graduation rates.