Southern University takes on low graduation rates: ‘Biggest thing we’ve got to tackle

This won't change. SU graduates rates have been in the pits of hell forever. It's not gonna change. The only way to increase college graduation rates is to increase standards and increasing standards will significantly lower enrollment so it won't happen. And now SU has to compete with LSU for black students. However, LSU is now seen as the more trendy cool "black school". In recent years I've even seen some LSU black students call it a "HBCU". Also it has a much better campus and reputation and LSU black students can just drive to north BR for that real HBCU experience. SU is screwed. There are some very successful graduates that come out of SU but SU will never be taken seriously with its low graduation rate and academic reputation. Even most black students think SU is ghetto and beneath them which is why they are going to LSU making it ghetto and lowering its reputation ... vicious hysterical cycle ain't it

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Discussions about Southern University’s graduation rates often carry an implied criticism: Students are not finishing because they are not trying hard enough. That assumption is simple, convenient — and wrong.

Southern’s challenge is not motivation. It is time. More specifically, it is the mismatch between traditional college timelines designed for financially supported, full-time students and the realities of students who must work to support themselves and their families.

Only 11% of Southern students in the 2016 cohort earned a bachelor’s degree within four years, according to data reported to the National Center for Education Statistics. The figure alarms policymakers, frustrates administrators and troubles alumni who understand the institution’s impact. But it should not surprise those familiar with the students Southern serves.

Southern is an access institution. It enrolls first-generation college students, low-income students and Pell Grant recipients. Many come from families unable to cover tuition, housing, books, food, transportation and unexpected expenses. For these students, employment is not optional or supplemental. Many are primary contributors to household income, paying rent, utilities and other family expenses.

The four-year graduation model assumes that college is a student’s primary responsibility. For many Southern students, that assumption does not hold.

Working 20, 30 or even 40 hours a week fundamentally reshapes the college experience. Students often reduce course loads to accommodate work schedules. Required classes may fill before they can register. Advising appointments conflict with shifts. Internships are frequently unpaid, making them inaccessible. Summer classes are often replaced with full-time employment. Missing a single prerequisite can delay graduation by a year.

Viewed over time, a six-year path to a degree appears less like failure and more like inevitability.

One factor often missing from graduation-rate discussions is the cost of time. Graduating “on time” is most attainable for students who can afford to treat college as their sole job. Southern students are navigating higher education while managing economic survival, and the standard metrics penalize them for doing both.

University leaders acknowledge the complexity. Chancellor John Pierre has said the issue is multifaceted, noting Southern’s commitment to enrolling students with financial need, limited family experience with higher education and responsibilities that do not pause during exams or semesters. That mission complicates graduation metrics but defines the institution.

Comparisons with peer institutions often lack context. Graduation rates are frequently presented as isolated numbers. Comparisons with Grambling State University, Dillard University or LSU do not reflect how many Southern students send money home, work instead of withdrawing, or stop out temporarily to regain financial stability. The data capture timelines, not persistence.

Southern’s recent $2 million grant to modernize its data infrastructure is a step forward. Early alerts, proactive advising and targeted academic interventions are important, as is the hiring of additional advisers and the rebuilding of in-person academic engagement disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But data systems alone cannot resolve economic constraints.

If Louisiana expects Southern to improve graduation outcomes, it must reduce the financial pressures that extend students’ timelines. That includes addressing the long-standing funding gap between Southern and LSU, expanding need-based financial aid, increasing paid internship opportunities, providing emergency grants and investing in affordable housing and food security. Retention is not only an academic issue. It is also a labor issue.

The definition of success also deserves reconsideration.

A student who graduates in six years while working, supporting family members, avoiding excessive debt and remaining enrolled demonstrates persistence and resilience. That outcome should not be framed as institutional failure. Southern’s role has long been to create upward mobility under challenging conditions.

The four-year graduation rate should be a goal, not a moral judgment.

Southern’s challenge is balancing accountability with honesty. Improving systems and outcomes matters. But progress requires acknowledging reality. Southern’s students are not disengaged. They are stretched.

Until higher education confronts the financial realities facing working students, graduation rates will continue to tell only part of the story. Southern, operating with limited resources, will continue educating students who take longer paths — not because they wander, but because the journey is harder.

Access and opportunity lose meaning if institutions pretend the distance is the same for everyone.

Cutline: Graduation rates at Louisiana HBCUs

Graduation rates for full-time, first-time bachelor’s degree-seeking students in the 2016 cohort at Louisiana’s four-year historically Black colleges and universities, shown at the four-, six- and eight-year marks. Southern University and A&M College trails most in four-year completion but shows gains over longer timelines, reflecting the extended paths many working students take to earn degrees. Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS).