Individual Practices to Increase the Graduation Rate of African American Students at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities

Abstract

African American students face a number of institutional barriers when admitted to Predominantly White Colleges and Universities (PWCUs). Many of the obstacles they encounter are related to historical racism, stereotypes, and prejudices embedded in the culture of these institutions. Even though the enrollment of African American students at these institutions continues to increase, their completion rate remains low. While past studies have examined institutional strategies to increase African American graduation rate, they have failed to provide recommendations on the individual level for these students to practice. This article explores an important questions: What individual strategies are important for African American students to practice in an effort to graduate from PWCUs? Using semi-structured interviews of tenured Africam American faculty at PWCUs, ten recommendations were proposed to practice.