Cal State Long Beach’s current graduation rates now place among the best in the nation for graduating Hispanic/Latino, Asian-American, and African-American students.
According to a recent press release, CSULB ranked second in the nation among reporting Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) universities in graduating Hispanic/Latino, and Asian-American students, while ranking third in the nation in the same category for African-American students.
David Dowell, vice provost and co-chair of the Highly Valued Degree Initiative, said the university builds on student success with graduation rates improving for a number of years since the 1990s.
“The university has not carried the same goals and values throughout the years. There is a growing awareness of the importance of graduation,” Dowell said. “In the past, it was entirely up to students to figure out their own step towards graduation. Now there is a growing awareness of shared responsibility for faculty, staff, students, administration and the institution to support students. It is a huge change nationally.”
Dowell said the Graduation Initiative have a renewed focus on student success where efforts are improving graduation rates especially through the Highly Valued Degree Initiative.
“Because of a big institution, there is a challenge to be well organized,” Dowell said. “Making sure the right classes are offered and having the right advising is key.”
Dowell said graduation rates among minority groups have changed over the years by gains shared by all group both absolute and proportional terms.
According to the graduation rate analysis, the largest gain is among African Americans.
In addition, Dowell said the Beach Learning Community provides additional support for students in math, English, GE classes and GE advising. According to the retention data on graduation rate increases, this is the third year the program has been offered and the current 125 students will be tripled to 450 students by next year.
“The Beach Learning Community program succeeded 20 percent higher than groups of students not a part of the program,” Dowell said. “The support services provided are a contributing factor to the cause of student graduation rates.”
According to Lynn Mahoney, associate Vice President, undergraduate studies and co-chair of the Highly Valued Degree Initiative, the key elements to the university’s progress have been strengthening advising programs for students, expanding faculty mentoring, establishing of learning communities for students in specific disciplines, support programs for under-represented minority students and numerous other student academic support programs.
With the current economy and budget cuts, Dowell fears graduation rates will lower in the future.
“The budget limits the amount of funding for the university making it difficult to offer classes needed by students,” Dowell said. “There is a real fear for a significant number of students to possibly drop out of college and work full-time. Evidence shows the national database is challenged by big factors in the amount of funding.”
However, he said the university is committed to doing the best job to support students and is here for student success.
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