St. Louis Community College ranks among the top 100 institutions in the number of associate degrees conferred to African-American students, according to information published in Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine.
STLCC ranked 36th in the number of associate degrees conferred to African-American students in 2011-12.
The University of Phoenix-Online (Ariz.) was ranked first. STLCC was the only Missouri community college to make the list.
The rankings are based on the review of 2011-12 preliminary data submitted by institutions to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. According to the data, STLCC conferred 474 associate degrees to African-American students, accounting for 22 percent of the total number of degrees conferred during that academic year.
The figure also represents a 19 percent increase over the number conferred to African-American graduates in 2010-11. According to the article, the number of associate degrees awarded to minority students nationally increased by 15 percent between academic years 2010-11 and 2011-12.
“Over the past three years as an Achieving the Dream school, St. Louis Community College has looked at performance gaps for our most significantly underserved population – our African-American students,” said Donna Dare, Ph.D., vice chancellor for academic and student affairs.
“The college has engaged in an African-American Male Initiative, Commit to Complete, Gateway to College, Upward Bound, TRIO and other programs and services to make every effort to mitigate those gaps. We continue to examine the effectiveness of all our strategies to reduce disparities in student success.”
For more information about STLCC, visit www.stlcc.edu.
