In a comparison of graduation rates between white and black students at 450 four-year colleges, The Education Trust issued a report in March that includes UCSB among the schools with increases in undergraduate degrees awarded to African American students over the decade from 2003-2013. It also analyzed what two schools, Ohio State in Columbus and Lubbock's Texas Tech University, had done to win double-digit increases.
UCSB, which graduated 74.1 percent of "underrepresented students" (or students of African American, Latino, or Native American heritage) in 2013 compared to 69.4 percent in 2003, graduated white students by percentages of 83.1 and 78.7 in those years, respectively. The increase over the decade was roughly the same for both groups: about 4 percent. For black students alone, however, the report, titled Rising Tide II, detailed that in 2013, 72.2 percent walked the line, a rise of 9.3 percent since 2003. That was double the average institution in the study. To be included, a school had to have 30 or more first-time, full-time black students and the same for white students.
The first Rising Tide study released in December found that Latino students showed the best increases — 7.4 percent — among the two-thirds of colleges that improved all graduation rates. Native Americans went up 6.4 percent and black graduates by 4.4 percent across all schools included.