A new study led by Stella Flores, an associate professor of public policy and higher education at Vanderbilt University, finds that Black and Hispanic students who enroll at minority-serving institutions are just as likely to graduate from college as Black and Hispanic students who attend other colleges and universities.
The study, co-authored by Toby J. Park, an assistant professor of educational leadership at Florida State University, found that the graduation rate at HBCUs lagged the graduation rate at predominantly White colleges and universities by about 7 percent. But the study noted that students entering HBCUs are often less academically prepared than other students and often receive less financial aid.
“Minority-serving institutions are doing more with less,” Dr. Park said. “And that needed to be factored into the analysis.”
“When all the variables were factored in,” Dr. Flores noted, “we found there was no difference in a student’s likelihood of graduating based on if they were enrolled in a minority-serving institution or a traditional school.”
The study, “The Effect of Enrolling in a Minority-Serving Institution for Black and Hispanic Students in Texas,” was published in the journal Research in Higher Education. It may be accessed here.
