LANSDOWNE, Va.

College graduation rates will decline precipitously nationally in the coming years if nothing is done to improve the postsecondary completion rates of Black and Hispanic students, who represent the fastest growing student populations in colleges and universities, says the latest annual report released by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).

The SREB is a nonprofit organization that assists education leaders and legislators in 16 Southern member states to improve education at all levels.

Nearly 52 percent of first-time, full-time freshmen at public four-year colleges and universities earned their bachelor’s degrees within six years in SREB states in 2007, the report indicates. The 16 Southern states that encompass the SREB lagged three points behind the national graduation rate of 55 percent.

When disaggregated by race, the data show that graduation rates for Black and Hispanic students were lower than the national and regional averages.

Roughly 43 percent of Hispanic students and 40 percent of Black students nationwide graduated from a college or university in six years in 2007 compared with 58 percent of White students. In SREB states, the numbers are nearly identical with 56 percent of White college students graduating in six years, compared to 43 percent of Hispanic students and 40 percent of Black students.

“The overall college graduation rate will go down unless the graduation gaps between groups are closed because the faster growing groups have the lowest rates,” said Joseph Marks, director of education data services for SREB and co-author of the report during the 2009 SREB Annual Meeting on Monday.

Over the next decade, the educational pipeline will be infused with large numbers of minorities, experts say. By 2022, non-White public high school graduates are projected to be the majority of public high school graduates in 10 of the 16 SREB states, the data reveal.