We just finished celebrating Black History Month, but the discussions don’t have to end in February! Here are some significant issues in the Black community that I think people need to be aware of.
Black students are reported to have a significantly smaller college completion rate than their white peers. Black students face many challenges when it comes to graduating college and those include discrimination, cost, and extracurricular activities. According to research, 34 percent of African Americans have an associate or higher compared with 46 percent of the general population and 47% of white people. The same article writes on how Black student enrollment and completion of college within six years is declining over the last 10 years, and this rate has continued post-pandemic.
The reasons for this decline is again based on discrimination, affordability, and extracurricular activities.
DISCRIMINATION IN COLLEGE
Now, Black students just like everyone else in college are enrolled to study, learn, and earn a degree that would hopefully give them financial stability. If Black students are targeted by their white peers, instructors, and other people on campus then obviously this will disrupt their academic performance and comfortability at school. Imagine getting up for class and not wanting to go to school because you fear discrimination, targets, and eyes on you simply because you’re Black. In a study based on a survey asking 6,000 enrolled students, with 1,106 Black students, about difficulties they’re
A solution to this problem is to initiate a Black student success strategy that is culturally sensitive to Black students and makes sure they are happy, safe, and succeeding in their courses. This strategy would include financial aid, tuition reductions, support for childcare, etc, and these are just a few technical strategies that could be done to support Black students at colleges. Overall, this strategy would also be a way to ensure college graduation within six years.
STATISTICS IN BLACK DISCRIMINATION
The previous study also found that there are significant disparities by institution regarding what Black students face. It was found that those Black students that attended private nonprofit colleges and universities were more likely to experience discrimination with a rate of 23 percent compared to those at public institutions with a rate of 17 percent.
A MATTER OF PRIORITIES
Although Black students and other minority students may value higher education there are still many factors that interfere with these groups’ success in college. A survey found that 35 percent of Black students in the U.S. have major life responsibilities beyond coursework such as caring for a child or adult family members.
Again, there needs to be initiatives to support Black students who can’t work because it just wouldn’t be possible for them to juggle work and school. Maintaining a work and school life is resilient and evidence of a hardworker however some students simply can’t juggle these two things. Therefore, colleges need to recognize this need and implement this into the Black student success strategy I mentioned above.
Conclusion
Black students out of all minority groups face the most challenges when it comes to graduating college. The challenges may not be apparent yet statistics still show us that Black students are facing major difficulties in higher education. Colleges that accept and welcome these students need to develop plans to ensure the wellbeing and success of these students. Black students may not come forward to tell the administration their struggles it should be the administration’s duty to research, recognize, and take action to solve this problem.