Racial gaps are another concern. Overall, the federal figures report 57 percent of White students finish their degree, compared with 44 percent of Hispanics and 39 percent of Blacks. A 2004 Education Trust report found a quarter of schools have gaps between Whites and Blacks of 20 points or more.

Traditionally, experts say, blame has fallen on high schools, or on the students themselves.

“You walk into a high school and 50 percent of the kids aren’t graduating, people say ‘What’s the matter with this place? Get me the principal. Get me the school board. Let’s put this place in receivership,’� says Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. “But people walk into [a college] and say ‘What’s the matter with these students? We gave them a chance to go to college.’�
While student responsibility is a factor, “an awful lot of institutions just assumed that getting them in the door was the most important thing,� adds Kati Haycock, director of The Education Trust.

Now, Haycock and Callan say signs are indicating a change in the philosophy. Graduation rates are on the agenda of U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings’ new national commission on higher education. There is growing research on how colleges can get students more involved in campus life, which makes them more likely to stay enrolled. And Callan says some state legislatures, even in the face of pressure to increase capacity, are exploring budget incentives for schools to improve graduation rates, not just increase enrollment.

— Associated Press