Deciding whether to go to college can be difficult, stressing, and sometimes can be put on the back burner to find a peace of mind. Maybe taking a year off to travel, or to work works better for you. And that’s OK.

But for graduating high school students choosing to attend college, or an university, in particular an historically black college, the most important step, it seems, is choosing the right college for you fitting your individuality, needs and wants, and personal preferences, not to mention the rising price of higher education in America and how we’re suppose to meet this increasing demand.

A new report issued by EDsmart reveals deciding to transfer to a different college for whatever given reason could do more harm than good to a student’s pockets and time-frame to graduate on time, six years or less. “Students often don’t realize,” the reports says, “that by transferring colleges, they greatly lower their chance of graduating in six years by 87%. The costs associated with transferring make it more difficult for students to graduate within the normal time-frame.”

“Loss of credits is heavily detrimental to a student’s pockets and time-frame with the student having to retake classes for credits earned at their previous institution,” the report found. “Student’s who are looking for a college should have first-year retention rates as a high priority on their college checklist.”

After reviewing data for 84 HBCUs, EDsmart “has put together a list of the top 10 historically black colleges according to retention rate.”

Here they are below:

  1. Spelman College: Retention rate: 90%
  2. Fisk University: Retention rate: 84.5%
  3. Morehouse College: Retention rate: 81.7%
  4. Howard University: Retention rate: 81%
  5. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University: Retention rate: 79.7%
  6. Elizabeth City State University: Retention rate: 79.1%
  7. Tougaloo College: Retention rate: 78.9%
  8. Winston-Salem State University: Retention rate: 78.3%
  9. Wilberforce University Retention rate: 77.7%
  10. Oakwood University: Retention rate: 75.6%

Head over to EDsmart to read more.

Tommy G. Meade Jr. is the Editor-in-Chief at HBCU Buzz. Follow him on Twitter.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Good for these HBCU’s about 75% is a good benchmark to shoot for as far as retention. Unfortunately life happens and some kids finish later than within 4-5 years.

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