Diversity

A 1997 survey by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education ranked the University of Delaware sixth among all public institutions in graduation rates for black students, with 56 percent graduating within six years. Only 10 public institutions had graduation rates for blacks of more than 50 percent.

Today, UD's four, five and six-year graduation rates for each ethnic category remain substantially higher than a sample of other highly selective, public universities, particularly among African-Americans and Hispanics. In addition, more and more freshmen are choosing to remain at UD for their sophomore year.

That's the good news from a new "Retention and Graduation Rate Report" issued by the UD Office of Institutional Research and Planning in October. The report states that the overall 1999 freshman to sophomore retention rate was 89.1 percent, the highest first-year retention rate yet observed at UD for an entering freshman class and an increase of two full percentage points over the previous two entering classes, the executive summary states.

The report also states that the four-year graduation rate for the African Americans in the class that entered in 1996 is 55.2 percent, the highest of any class since 1991. Each year since 1992, the overall four-year graduation rate has increased.

The overall five-year graduation rate for minority entering freshmen ranges from 67 to 70 percent, with the class entering in the fall of 1995 showing the highest five-year graduation percentage (70 percent).

Every fall, the Office of Institutional Research and Planning provides statistics on undergraduate retention and graduation rates. Statistics in this report are from first-time, full-time freshmen enrolled at UD from 1991-1999 on the Newark campus.