Black students at local colleges in Alabama are behind in graduation rates

Michelle Rupe Eubanks:

Of the black students that entered Northwest-Shoals Community College in the fall of 2001, only 10 percent graduated in academic year 2004-05.

"The previous year was 6 percent, so our figures are up," said John McIntosh, director of planning at research at the two-year school, which has campuses in Muscle Shoals and Phil Campbell.

The statistics are similar for the University of North Alabama.

"When you put that number against the national average, I'd say we're doing pretty poorly," said Roosevelt Newson, vice president for academic affairs and provost at UNA.

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, in its annual report on black graduation rates, noted gains nationwide. The report noted, however, that a troubling gap persists, reducing the chances that young black adults will have incomes on par with white peers.

The journal, a quarterly publication, used data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association for the survey that appears in the winter 2006-07 edition.

Nationwide, the share of black students finishing degrees within six years of enrolling stands at 43 percent, up four points in three years, according to the report.

The rate for white students is 63 percent.

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