SHARON - The University's one-year retention rates for black students increased 5 percent between 1982 and 1986, the chairman of the President's Council on Recruitment and Retention told the University's Board of Trustees Friday.
But Jerry Covert said during his report for the Special Advisory Committee for Affirmative Action that although the figures are encouraging, University retention efforts cannot end after a student's freshman year.
The University is losing a significant number of minority students after the freshman year, Covert said.
"It continues to happen after the second and third year," Covert said.
Financial difficulties are sometimes a factor, he said.
As tuition continues to increase, greater funding must go to black achievement awards and black incentive grants, said University President Bryce Jordan. Jordan added that retention of minorities is important to the entire University.
The University's newly-approved budget increased funding for scholarships for black Pennsylvania residents by $1.5 million and funding for black achievement awards and incentive grants by $73,000.
The average differential between one-year freshmen retention rates for white and black students was 4 percent and for white and Hispanic students, 8 percent. But the average of 1982 freshmen who had graduated from the University within six years varied 23.7 percent between black and white students and 13.7 percent between Hispanic and white students.
Since students leave the University for a number of reasons, programs must address a number of different issues, Covert said.
"We are looking to reduce the percentage difference between retention rates for minority and white students," he said.
The Commonwealth campus system may contribute to attrition because after their sophomore years, students may choose to transfer to a college or university closer to home rather than move to University Park, Covert said.
The difficulties of the transition to University Park are addressed by a program at the University's Beaver campus, he said. The program brings together faculty from both campuses to talk with students who are transferring, he said.
But students may leave because of other difficulties, such as academic or social, Covert said. The University must try to address all these issues, he said.
A one-credit freshmen seminar within the College of Agriculture helps minority freshmen to learn study habits and adjust to college life, Covert said.
The council - which hears reports on minority recruitment and retention efforts from each campus and college within the University system - is being restructured in November, Covert said. More effort will be made to maintain close contact between administrators and the faculty carrying out their programs, he said.
