African-American retention suffers at U.

The retention rate for African Americans at penn is 60.1 percent, compared to an Ivy average of 69.6 percent. When College sophomore Ejim Achi returned to Penn for his second year this fall, he found one of his fellow classmates had disappeared. "I know of a kid who was supposed to be a sophomore this year, who isn't here anymore," he said. "I don't know why." Achi and his missing friend are both African American, a minority group that continues to have lower retention rates at Penn than other groups and lower retention rates than those of African Americans at other Ivy League universities. Several students and University officials recently attributed this problem to factors ranging from financial aid difficulties to problems with academic support to concerns about social isolation. In 1998, University Council's Pluralism Committee released a report showing that for African Americans at Penn, the average four-year graduation rate for classes entering 1986-1990 was 60.1 percent compared to an Ivy League average of 69.6 percent and an Ivy high of 82.5 percent. For white students at Penn, however, the average retention rate was a significantly higher 81.7 percent. College senior Chaz Howard, former chairman of the United Minorities Council, said financial aid is the major factor that may cause African-American students to drop out or never receive their diplomas. "It's definitely something that's affected me personally," Howard said of low retention rates. "I've had friends who are African American who aren't here anymore." Valerie DeCruz, director of the Greenfield Intercultural Center, agreed with Howard about financial aid being a hurdle for African-American students. She said a large number of students who fail to graduate in four years have all of their course requirements but cannot formally receive their diplomas because they owe the University money. Bernard Lentz, director of institutional research and analysis at the Provost's Office, was also involved in collecting data for last year's pluralism report on minority recruitment and retention. "What we found was that financial difficulties were key [for dropouts]," he said. Currently, Penn offers financial aid packages that are predominantly loan-based, while Ivy League peers such as Princeton and Yale universities offer mainly grant-based aid. Penn, however --Ewhich has a low endowment to student ratio -- uses a limited portion of endowment money for financial aid. Other schools can afford to fund aid almost completely through their endowments. Lentz said that starting in 1997, the University had implemented a program using retention liaisons. The goal of the program, according to Lentz, is to "try to identify those people who might be having [financial] difficulties early on." The program currently focuses on seniors and aims to complement academic advising with financial advising. DeCruz said another factor that may affect low retention rates for African Americans is the fact that many of them are the first in their families to attend college. "A lot of people take for granted the kind of natural advantage one has when one has family familiar with college and particularly with the Ivy Leagues," she said. "If you are the first in your family to come to an institution like Penn, there are a lot of obstacles." Achi noted that he thought the problem was "just a microcosm of American society," adding that "[African Americans] face a profound racial stereotype." United Minorities Council Chairman Jerome Byam, a College junior, said the University lacked role models for African-American students. "I've never had a black professor," he said. Assistant Dean of Minority Affairs and Advising in the College of Arts and Sciences Janice Curington said she felt psychological factors also played out in low retention rates for African-American students. "One of the issues that I see increasing is a sense of isolation -- a little lack of confidence," she said. "Perhaps [students] are not getting appropriate mentoring." Lentz said the University was "really trying to be very proactive" in increasing retention rates by working with the college house system and Academic Advising to offer more advising and support for African-American students. Still, Howard said the University could be doing more to retain African-American students. "I'm hoping that the University stops researching [low retention] and starts acting on it," he said. "We already know it to be a tragedy."

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