GW lags behind most peer universities in nonwhite student graduation rates, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s analysis of U.S. Department of Education data.

The data — which analyzed the graduation rates of a cohort of students seeking bachelor’s and two year degrees who started their degrees in 2016 and 2019 respectively at more than 2,000 institutions — showed that nonwhite students at GW had a six-year graduation rate of 84.1 percent, which is the 10th highest rate out of GW’s 12 peer schools. Experts in diversity in higher education said the data reflects the causal relationships between the selectivity of institutions and higher nonwhite student graduation rates but factors like students’ financial situations can also contribute to differences in student success.

Under the Chronicle’s methodology, nonwhite or “total minority” graduation rates consisted of the average of all students not characterized as white: Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native and two or more races, U.S. nonresidents or race unknown. GW’s white student graduation rate was 86 percent according to the Department of Education data — the Chronicle’s analysis did not include statistics for white students.

Among its 12 peer schools, GW’s six-year nonwhite student graduation rate was only above the rates of three peer schools — University of Pittsburgh, University of Miami and Syracuse University, which had nonwhite student graduation rates of 83.1 percent, 82.5 percent and 81.9 percent, respectively. 

Black and Hispanic students had the lowest graduation rates at GW — a trend consistent across all peer schools — with Black students having an 80.4 percent six-year graduation rate and Hispanic students having an 83.7 percent six-year graduation rate. GW was ranked 10th for Black student graduation rates and 11th for Hispanic student graduation rates.

Experts in higher education said schools with more resources, like higher endowments and more selective institutions, are likely to see higher overall graduation rates and nonwhite student graduation rates because they select the students most financially equipped to finish their education. 

Shelly Lundberg, a professor of demography at the University of California Santa Barbara, said GW's nonwhite student graduation rate data reflects a trend in which more selective universities — those with lower acceptance rates — tend to have higher nonwhite student graduation rates because they prioritize admitting the students who are most equipped to finish and have the resources to succeed, meaning their graduation rates are higher overall, regardless of race or gender.

“There's a very strong pattern in completion rates, which is the completion rates are notably higher for all groups from the most difficult campuses to get into, from the ones with the highest standards, who are letting in the young people with whom are the best qualified right, who are coming well prepared, usually with good family resources to help them stick it out,” Lundberg said. 

The universities with the highest nonwhite student graduation rates among GW’s peer schools also had the lowest acceptance rates, with GW ranking 10th in nonwhite graduation rates and having the second-highest acceptance rate of all peer schools of 44 percent.

Georgetown University had the highest nonwhite student graduation rate of 94.4 percent and the fifth-lowest acceptance rate of 13 percent of all GW’s peer schools. Similarly, Tufts University had the second-highest nonwhite student graduation rate of 93.3 percent with the third-lowest acceptance rate of 10 percent. Northeastern University had the lowest acceptance rate of 6 percent and the fourth-highest nonwhite student graduation rate of 91.9 percent.

In 2013, officials publicly admitted to waitlisting applicants who could not afford GW's tuition.

Lundberg said the data also reflects a long-standing trend of women excelling in higher education at greater rates than men. She said while this trend has existed since universities started accepting women in the mid-19th century, it has gotten greater media attention now as the gaps have increased since the 1990s. 

From 2016 to 2022, 60 percent of students enrolled in GW were women and 47 percent were white. 

Lundberg said women’s success in education at all levels of school is not necessarily because they are smarter than men but because of how they are socialized growing up. She said women are socialized to be more compliant and obedient as children, while men tend to be socialized to be more independent, which leads women to have better classroom behaviors and perform better in school. 

“On standardized tests, that varies from one country to another, but on average, girls do about as well as boys do, or boys do about as well as girls do,” Lundberg said. “But if you look at math grades in school, girls consistently get higher grades than boys do, even in subjects that boys are apparently, many believe better at, and part of that is that they turn in their homework.” 

Andrew Porter, a retired professor of education at the University of Pennsylvania, said elite universities with low acceptance rates tend to have less gaps between racial groups' graduation rates because they select the students who are the best perceived academic “fit,” and they have the highest quality programs that help students graduate. 

Porter said schools where nonwhite students can find a “sense of belonging” are more likely to have higher nonwhite student graduation rates. Porter said there is “variability” among how much different institutions are investing into support systems catered toward nonwhite students who are struggling academically or emotionally due to these external hardships, which can lead to differences in graduation rates.

“I'm sure there's a lot of variability across institutions in how much they work on that,” Porter said. “The simple word is, spend. How much do they spend on it? Do they hire experts that cost money? Do they create facilities that are accessible and all those kinds of things?”

Thomas Kelchen, a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, said the main barriers preventing nonwhite students from graduating are financial since these students are more likely to have to work to get themselves through college, which he said can affect them academically. GW's current undergraduate tuition rate is $67,420 per academic year — an increase of almost $3,000 from last school year.

GW offers a number of scholarships and awards targeted at students from underrepresented backgrounds, including the Elliot Equity Fund — which offers tuition support to select students entering the Elliot School of International Affairs — and the Philip L. Graham Fund Scholarship for Diversity, which provides financial aid to students within the School of Media & Public Affairs.

“Do they have the money to get through college? And also, do they have the ability to go to college and not have to work full time to support a family? I think that that's a big piece of it,” Kelchen said.