By Neil Offen

noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646

DURHAM -- Graduation rates at historically black colleges and universities are lower than at other institutions.

But a recent white paper from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a New York-based leadership organization for HBCUs, says the numbers are misleading.

"Traditional graduation rate measures ... simply do not reflect either the unique educational challenges or significant accomplishments of HBCUs," the report states. "They do not address the unique role or longstanding mission of HBCUs."

The report -- "Making the Grade: Improving Degree Attainment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities" -- calls for new measures "that contextualize graduation rates ... demonstrating the immense value these institutions add as they raise their students from a position of academic weakness to strength ... and taking into consideration students' socio-economic status and academic preparation."

It's a point, says N.C. Central Chancellor Charlie Nelms, that he's been making for the past 40 years.

"I have spent my career trying to make this point and trying to improve the metrics," said Nelms. "This is not an excuse [for low rates]; it's a reality. The profile of students we enroll and their circumstances are simply different, and that must be taken into consideration."

It's a point that Nelms has made with increasing intensity in recent months.

UNC System President Erskine Bowles has said he wants to see graduation and retention rates -- which measure the percentage of students moving on from one year to the next -- increase across the system's campuses. He has suggested that funding for enrollment increases be tied to improving those rates.

But Nelms has cautioned against a "one size fits all" approach, saying publicly that he wants to be sure Bowles and other top system administrators acknowledge that schools like NCCU have a different mission, and a different challenge, than campuses such as UNC Chapel Hill, N.C. State University or UNC Wilmington.

The report from the Marshall Fund buttresses that view.

It notes that "HBCUs enroll a large proportion of part-time, transfer and low-income students as well as those who stop in and out of college due to life circumstances."

Consequently, says the report, compiled by the fund and four presidents of HBCUs, "these students' degree completion simply doesn't register on a six-year graduation yardstick." That metric does not "capture the distance that students must travel in life to attain their degrees."

Nationwide, only around 37 percent of students graduate from HBCUs within six years (compared with 45 percent for non-HBCUs). At NCCU, the six-year graduation rate has been around 49 percent -- still less than half of the student body and far beyond, for instance, the 85 percent rate of UNC Chapel Hill.

Nelms recommends a "new metric" that would take into account a number of different factors, including:

n The student's level of readiness when entering higher education. "Are they ready for collegiate success, as reflected by the rigor of courses they took in high school and their performance in those courses?" Nelms said.

n The student's employment status. Many low-wealth students find themselves working two or three jobs while they're attending college, the chancellor pointed out.

n The resources and expertise of the institution. "Can the institution teach students who are not where they need to be upon entry?" Nelms asked.

n The student's pattern of attendance. Many students from low-wealth backgrounds may start and stop and start their education again, because of financial circumstance. "We need to be careful not to define a stop as a dropout," Nelms said, "because those students may eventually come back to school."