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University boasts highest black student graduation rate for public institutions

The University of Virginia once again is ranked first among public universities in the graduation rate of black students, according to an article in the autumn issue of the Journal for Blacks in Higher Education.

Studies show the 1998 graduation rate of black students at the University was 87 percent - up from 84 percent in 1996 and a 79 percent rate in 1993. The Journal for Blacks in Higher Education is an independent quarterly magazine out of New York that publishes statistical analysis of black students in colleges and universities. This particular study tracked the 312 institutions that make up the NCAA and calculated the numbers of black students who entered a particular school and received a diploma within six years. According to the study, the nationwide black college graduation rate is 39 percent, compared to the 59 percent graduation rate for white students.

At the University, the difference between white and black graduation rates is only 6 percent, with a 93 percent graduation rate for whites in 1998 and an 87 percent rate for black students.

M. Rick Turner, dean of African-American Affairs, said the University's high rank in black student graduation is "not new here. The University has a long history of caring for African-American students."

Turner said the most important factor in keeping students in school is to make them feel comfortable and empowered in their learning environments.

The University's 87 percent graduation rate is 20 percentage points higher than that of any other state university in the country.

The University was ranked ninth among all public and private schools in this study, falling behind such schools as Princeton and Brown. Harvard was ranked first with a 1998 black graduation rate of 94 percent. But the University was ranked above five Ivy League schools, including Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale.

"I think these numbers dispel the myth that some universities are reaching below their standards to recruit African-American students," Black Student Alliance Co-President Fabienne Nicaisse said.

Turner said a number of University institutions contribute to the high ranking, such as the peer advisor program, which pairs up incoming first-year black students with a trained third or fourth-year student advisor.

Black Fraternal Council Co-Chairman Michael McPheeters said there is not just one institution responsible for the success of black students at the University.

But, he said much credit for the high ranking should go to "the wonderful people in the Office of African-American Affairs and the willingness of the administration to make all black students feel welcome."

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