According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 68.6 percent of all White students who entered a four-year college in 2018 had earned a degree at the same college by 2024. For Blacks, the six-year graduation rate was 43.8 percent. This is a huge racial gap.
At the nation’s highest-ranked universities graduation rates are much higher and the graduation rate gap for Black and White students is much lower. There are many reasons why this is so. First, the nation’s top universities admit the most capable students who achieved great success in high school and on standardized college entrance examinations. These students are likely to be able to handle the rigors of higher education at a selective institution.
Also, these high-ranking universities often have huge endowments that allow them to offer substantial financial aid packages—not just for students from low-income families—but even for students from upper-middle-class families. Finally, these top-tier universities have vast student support services that are devoted to student retention and graduation.
JBHE has compiled Black student graduation rates at the nation’s 30 highest-ranked universities (according to U.S. News & World Report) and ranked them accordingly. The rates are for students who enter the particular school and earned a bachelor’s degree at the same institution over the ensuing six years. At 29 of the 30 universities, the Black student graduation rate is 85 percent or higher. Nineteen have Black student graduation rates of 90 percent or higher.
| Institution | Graduation Rate |
|---|---|
| Princeton University | 98% |
| Harvard University | 97% |
| Yale University | 97% |
| Dartmouth College | 96% |
| University of Pennsylvania | 96% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 95% |
| Johns Hopkins University | 94% |
| Northwestern University | 93% |
| Columbia University | 92% |
| Rice University | 92% |
| University of Chicago | 92% |
| University of Notre Dame | 92% |
| Washington University in St. Louis | 92% |
| Brown University | 91% |
| Cornell University | 91% |
| Duke University | 91% |
| Emory University | 91% |
| Georgetown University | 91% |
| University of Virginia | 91% |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 89% |
| New York University | 88% |
| University of California, Berkeley | 88% |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 86% |
| University of California, Los Angeles | 86% |
| University of California, San Diego | 86% |
| University of Michigan | 86% |
| University of Southern California | 86% |
| Vanderbilt University | 86% |
| Stanford University | 85% |
| California Institute of Technology | 67% |
JBHE has also calculated the racial gap in graduation rates at these 30 universities. At four of these highest-ranked universities, the Black graduation rate exceeds the rate for Whites.
| Institution | Black Rate | White Rate | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yale University | 97% | 95% | +2 |
| Emory University | 91% | 90% | +1 |
| Johns Hopkins University | 94% | 93% | +1 |
| New York University | 88% | 87% | +1 |
| Dartmouth College | 96% | 96% | 0 |
| Princeton University | 98% | 98% | 0 |
| Harvard University | 97% | 98% | -1 |
| University of Pennsylvania | 96% | 97% | -1 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 95% | 96% | -1 |
| Northwestern University | 93% | 95% | -2 |
| Columbia University | 92% | 92% | -2 |
| University of California, San Diego | 86% | 88% | -2 |
| Rice University | 92% | 95% | -3 |
| UNC Chapel Hill | 89% | 92% | -3 |
| Washington University in St. Louis | 92% | 95% | -3 |
| University of Chicago | 92% | 95% | -3 |
| Cornell University | 91% | 95% | -4 |
| Georgetown University | 91% | 95% | -4 |
| University of California, Berkeley | 88% | 92% | -4 |
| University of Notre Dame | 92% | 97% | -5 |
| University of Virginia | 91% | 96% | -5 |
| Brown University | 91% | 97% | -6 |
| Duke University | 91% | 97% | -6 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 86% | 92% | -6 |
| Vanderbilt University | 86% | 93% | -7 |
| Stanford University | 85% | 92% | -7 |
| University of California, Los Angeles | 86% | 94% | -8 |
| University of Michigan | 86% | 94% | -8 |
| University of Southern California | 86% | 91% | -5 |
| California Institute of Technology | 67% | 96% | -29 |
Note: The California Institute of Technology has a much smaller undergraduate enrollment than the other 30 top-ranked universities. Thus, the Black student graduation rate can fluctuate to a large degree by the performance of just one or two Black students.
