Kevin Carey, the author of the study, said the group wanted to bring attention to the national graduation rate, which is "not as high as anyone would like it to be."

"It's a tool for institutions themselves to improve," he said.

Erin Hiestand (sophomore-chemistry) said she was unaware of the actual graduation rate for Penn State.

"I feel that the students here are smart enough, and they know what they have to do to graduate," she said.

Education professor Patrick Terenzini said the social support at Penn State may account for its higher national average. "It offers some niche or other, intellectual stimulation, academic stimulation, social support, to succeed and a campus ethos where success is just a fact of life," he said.

John Romano, vice provost for enrollment management, said First-Year Testing, Counseling and Advising Program, academic advising and the availability of financial aid make Penn State's graduation rate what it is.

According to the report, Penn State's African American student graduation rate increased to 67.9 percent in 2003, up from 60.4 percent in 2002. It was also higher than the national average of 40.5 percent, but is significantly lower than the 84.3 percent of white students who graduated in six years.

"We have seven challenges that are a part of our framework to foster diversity; one of those is to decrease this disparity," Terrell Jones, vice provost for educational equality said. "... We've seen significant progress over the last three or four years."

Education Policy Studies Student Association President Hector Sambolin said Penn State does an excellent job with academics, in regard to minority students, but "not quite as well with the socioeconomic aspect."

"It takes more than just establishing programs and giving them funding," he said. "If you don't give them direction to navigate the university, they'll get lost."

National Hispanic Business Association President Jennifer Kung agreed that student involvement is key.

"I definitely think that student involvement is high here, and they offer a wide, wide variety of organizations and programs," she said.

Kung said minority graduation rates may be lower than white students because of the low number of minority students. "Penn State is a bit of a cultural shock for them," she said.

Most institutions have a significant gap in graduation rates between black and white students, Carey said, but the median gap is about 11 percentage points. "At Penn State, the gap is larger ... which says to me that there's room for improvement," he said.

Carey added, however, that Penn State "looks quite good" compared to other Big Ten schools.