Nationwide, about half of White students who enter college complete a degree. That compares with about one-third of African-American and Hispanic students, said Jeannie Oakes, director of educational equity and scholarship at the Ford Foundation, which is backing the campaign launched this week.
“That's a huge problem,” Oakes said.
Public universities across the country are launching similar campaigns to boost graduation rates.
California State University, the nation's largest four-year system with 23 campuses and more than 400,000 students, announced in January an ambitious initiative to boost the percentage of students who graduate in six years from 46 percent to 54 percent by 2016.
And while some question the likelihood those efforts will succeed amid deep cuts in state funding for public higher education, there could eventually be money at the federal level for those states that are successful, Jones said.
A bill to oust private lenders from the student loan business and put the government in charge includes grant money for programs to improve community colleges and college graduation rates, among other things.
“Our expectation is, through the course of this next year, there may very well be federal dollars available,” he said.
