By Brooke Olson
Daily Bruin Staff
A 10-year UCLA study has found the number of undergraduates
successfully earning their bachelor’s degrees nationwide is
declining. In addition, the study suggests that there could be a
correlation between race and degree completion rates, according to
a report released yesterday.
The study, based on a sample of 75,752 students at 365
undergraduate institutions nationwide,began with freshmen entering
college in Fall, 1985, and allowed students up to 10 years to earn
their bachelor’s degrees.
Conducted by the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, the
study showed that overall, only about two in five students earned a
bachelor’s degree within four years after entering college, a
decline of nearly 7 percent in the last 20 years. Almost 45 percent
of undergraduate students graduate with a bachelor’s degree within
six years.
According to the report, African Americans and Chicanos are less
likely to obtain their degrees than Asian Americans and white
students.
The study also concluded that the largest number of students
earning a bachelor’s degree within four years are Asian Americans,
nearly half of whom graduate within the first four years of
college.
The report also concluded that about 42 percent of whites and
19.4 percent of African Americans complete their undergraduate
degrees within four years.
Some students attributed the high Asian graduate rate to a
typically strict upbringing, which in many cases places a very high
emphasis on education.
"I’m not surprised that Asians have such a high rate of
receiving bachelor’s degrees," said Sue Cho, a third-year biology
student. "My parents are very typically Asian  they have
always placed numerous amounts of pressure on my brothers and me to
succeed in school and business."
African-American students, along with American Indians and
Chicanos had the lowest degree completion rates, with as little as
20 percent graduating within the first four years of college.
"The lower rates for Chicanos, African Americans and American
Indians should be a cause for concern," said UCLA Professor of
Education Alexander W. Astin, the principal author of the
study.
"Since these groups are already underrepresented among entering
college freshmen, their higher college dropout rates will only
serve to exacerbate racial differences at the point of graduation,"
Astin added.
Other results showed that women are more likely to earn
bachelor’s degrees than men. More than 43 percent of women earn a
degree within four years, while less than 37 percent of the men
finished their undergraduate study within the allotted time.
After nine years of college, only 43 percent of men, compared to
49 percent of women, earned their bachelor’s degrees.
This statistic surprised some students reasoned that men,
typically the family’s primary financial provider, would be more
likely to finish school.
"I think it’s amazing that women are more likely to graduate
from college than men are," said Alison Davis, a first-year
undeclared student.
"It seems to me that men  who have the pressures of
society on being the breadwinners and all  would be more
likely to complete college than the women," she said.
Broken down by ethnicity, women are still more likely to earn
their bachelor’s degrees than men, with the exception of Chicana/o
students.
Some students attributed the higher percentage of bachelor
degree completion among Chicano men to their upbringing, in which
males are typically expected to support their wives.
"Within the Mexican culture, men are expected to earn the money
and to provide for the women  women don’t have that type of
pressure, so I guess they drop out more than men," said Jose
Santos, a second-year psychology student.
One of the major predictors of degree completion rates are the
student’s high school grades and achievement test scores. Eighty
percent of students who enter college with "A" averages and high
test scores finish college in four years, compared with only 11
percent of those with "C" averages and low test scores.
"I think students who did well in high school and learned how to
study in high school are definitely going to be more successful
than students who never developed good study habits," said Jason
Demers, a first year undeclared student.
Students at private universities are also more likely to
graduate within four years than undergraduates at public colleges
and universities.
This finding holds true for all ethnic groups, except for
Chicanos, who have the lowest degree achievement rate at four-year
Catholic colleges.
However, "it makes little sense to judge any institution’s
retention rate without also taking into account the level of
academic preparation of students who enroll," Astin explained.
"Differences by institutional type are no doubt partially
attributable to the preparation levels of the students entering
different types of institutions," he added.
Astin also noted that "raw retention rates may unfairly penalize
those institutions that admit less well-prepared students, and
bestow undeserved credit on those that are highly selective in
their admissions policies."
However, the study did not offer conclusions or suggestions on
how to raise the retention rates of any ethnicity regardless of the
type of institution.