The Retention of Underrepresented Students at SIUE
In recent years, SIUE has struggled to retain underrepresented students, particularly African American students. The Community-Oriented Digital Engagment Scholars program hopes to increase the retention of African American and first generation college students through High Impact Practices, but also by creating a sense of belonging, through mentorship opportunities, cohort building, and developing connections with the greater community.
Excerpt from the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s 2017 Report on Underrepresented Groups
This 2017 report from the Illinois Board of Higher Education compares SIUE’s ability to retain underrepresented students with its peer institutions across the nation. While SIUE on average enrolls approximately 2% more underrepresented students than other universities, they fall behind in graduation rates of underrepresented students by nearly 12% and only by 2% for non-underrepresented groups.
Excerpt from “Black Students at Public Colleges and Universities”
In this 2019 report out of the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center, Dr. Shaun Harper and Isaiah Simmons collected data regarding equity for black students at public universities. In the graph below, which represents their data on Illinois public universities, the completion equity for black students at SIUE, which received a failing grade, is compared to the other Illinois institutions in the study.
