A Look at Black Student Success: Identifying Top- and Bottom-Performing Institutions

Examines graduation rates for Black students and the completion gap between Black and White students at all nonspecialized public and private nonprofit institutions, as well as four-year, for-profit institutions. Together, these institutions — roughly 84 percent of all four-year institutions — enroll over 90 percent of Black first-time, full-time students. In separate sections, what the data tells about graduation outcomes for Black students at historically Black colleges and universities and at for-profit institutions is discussed. The bulk of the analysis, however, focuses on success rates at the 676 traditional public and private nonprofit colleges and universities that enroll nearly 60 percent of Black first-time, full-time students.