University of Wisconsin System officials say more effort has to be made when it comes to attracting and retaining minority students. That’s according to the UW System’s Annual Accountability Report.
Almost 60 percent of UW students end up graduating from the school they attend in their freshman year. That’s higher than the national average of more than 56 percent.
If you break up that number by race, however, the percentages vary.
UW System spokesman David Giroux says students who are Asian-American or white are more likely to graduate from their original school. “We see that many students of color, Native-Americans, blacks, and Latinos are not being retained and graduating at the same rates,” Giroux said, “so that’s an area where we need to continue and do some work.”
The system is meeting its goal of attracting 32 percent of Wisconsin high school graduates to UW campuses.
Again, Giroux says the UW System needs to work on attracting more high school graduates who are minorities. He says there are efforts underway to work with at-risk and low-income middle and high school students. “[At] UW-Green Bay, for example: they have a great program called Future Phoenix. Here at UW-Madison they have something called The PEOPLE Program. These are just two examples of many, very successful pre-college programs that get students thinking early about college as a viable option, [and] get them prepared for success.”
The results were compiled in the UW System’s Annual Accountability Report. For 19 years, it’s measured everything from graduation rates to funding. The results will be presented to the UW Board of Regents at their meeting Thursday at UW-Parkside.
