Kentucky Looks for Better Ways to Retain Minority College Students

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

      Minority high school graduates are heading off to Kentucky colleges and universities in record numbers, but studies show they’re still lagging behind their White classmates when it comes to getting a four-year degree.

      A study by the Council on Postsecondary Education reveals that while more minority students are enrolled in state colleges than ever before, an increasing number are leaving school before graduating.

      The study shows the number of minority students enrolled at state schools has risen 34.6 percent since 1998. Minorities also make up 15.8 percent of all state university students this year, as compared to 13.1 percent in 1998.

      But the study also shows the dropout rate of minority students has risen from 28.5 to 30 percent, while the dropout rate among White students has fallen from 23.5 percent to 22.1 percent.

      To help close the gap, the council is getting ready for a yearlong study on ways for state schools to attract and retain more minority students.

      “It’s inseparable,” says Sherron Jackson, assistant vice president for equal opportunity and finance at the council. “In order for the state to prosper, its individuals have to prosper.”

      In Kentucky, the idea of diverse student populations is still relatively new. The federal government imposed a desegregation order on the state in 1981 because it felt Kentucky wasn’t doing enough to attract minority students.

      In response, schools like the University of Kentucky instituted programs like the Freshman Summer Program, which allows minority students to come to Lexington in the summer before their freshman year to get comfortable in their new surroundings and to meet other minority students.