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Reader Comments and Feedback for the Regents Fret About Rate of Minority Graduations Article

[Note: This material is copyright by the Des Moines Register, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Des Moines Register.]

Iowa's student athletes have access to study centers, free tutors and scholarships that are incentives to keep their grades up.

The help shows. The University of Iowa's athletes have graduation rates about 16 percentage points higher than those of U of I minorities, according to data given to the Iowa Board of Regents.

"If we had the resources to provide every student coming to Iowa the resources provided to athletes, we might be able to see better numbers overall," U of I Provost Michael Hogan told the regents.

The regents expressed concern about the gap between minority and non-minority graduation rates. The regents asked provosts of the state universities to offer ideas on how to help minorities succeed.

The regents were told:

- Six-year graduation rates for U of I minorities were nearly 55 percent in 2006, 11 percentage points below those for non-minorities.

- At Iowa State University, minority graduation rates were 55.2 percent in 2006, 12 points lower than for non-minorities.

- The graduation rate for minorities at the University of Northern Iowa was 51.2 percent, 17 points lower than the rate for non-minorities.

University leaders cautioned that percentages can be misleading when the minorities' numbers are relatively small.

There is an even larger disparity between graduation rates for minorities and athletes at ISU and the U of I.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association said about 71 percent of U of I athletes who started school in 1999-2000 graduated by 2006. The ISU figure was about 70 percent. At UNI, it was about 54 percent.

Joined: 13 Dec 2006
Posts: 60

 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:13 am    Post subject: Why the link?
Why do the regents feel the need to compare minorities to athletes? Why the link? Why say that minorities need to get the academic support of athletes while non-minorities don't get the academic support of athletes and have higher graduation rates? Being a Waterloo East grad, I can tell you that the problem isn't the colleges' fault. This also isn't about race but class.

Poor students come to college unprepared. Their lack of challenging coursework in high school puts them behind their peers, and their financial needs often force them to work long hours in college. Add in that the poor student is more likely to come from a single-parent family and plays more than simply the role of college student that the wealthier student plays. The poor student also plays the role of family wage earner and has to drive home to help with familial problems such as child care needs, transportation help and caring for ailing family members.

The problem isn't race. Wealthy black students, for one example, do fine in college. The problem is class. Poor students need more financial aid, but the only way to provide that is to raise tuition for everyone else. It's a no-win in that case.

What really needs to happen is that poor students who had a poor high school preperation should be encouraged to enroll in two-year colleges such as Hawkeye Community College (and I believe DMACC) that have programs that support direct, seamless transfers to the state schools. Spend a year there, get transitioned to college life at a cheaper tuition and stay close to home for a year to help family with the transition. The largest number of drop-outs are freshmen, by far.

But nothing is going to be fixed until the out-of-touch, wealthy regents stop looking at the color of students' skin and start looking at poverty.
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liberalsaredumb
 
 

Joined: 07 Feb 2007
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:48 am    Post subject: Gartner and crew should worry about doing their jobs
and not worry Cool about imposing their world view on our universities. We could spend less money on athletics if we werent throwing millions away on sports that the vast majority of Iowans dont care about. Like womans field hockey. Exactly zero hs girls in Iowa play field hockey, but because of soft headed liberals like Gartner, we have laws saying we have to spend the exact amount of scholarships on woman athletes as men.

You want to do something the right way? Make college sports be self supporting. If the program doesnt make money, get rid of it.

After the debacle that the search for a new university at the University of Iowa devolved into, if Gartner had an ounce of humility, hed worry more about serving the people of the state of Iowa and less about posturing and grandstanding.
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Antonio
 
 

Joined: 25 Jan 2007
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Location: Iowa-USA
 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:52 am    Post subject:
These regents are their own worse enemy.
Every time they open their mouths, their true colors come spewing out.
Most of them are a bunch of rich white libs who want to play social engineers.
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slycotton82
 
 

Joined: 09 Dec 2006
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Location: Iowa City, IA
 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:17 am    Post subject:
"Why do the regents feel the need to compare minorities to athletes? "

Exactly. Shouldn't the comparison be made to white students, if anything? After, some of the athletes ARE minorities. Or if the comparison is being drawn to athletes, shouldn't it encompass ALL students who don't have the same advantages? Why are the regents only concerned with minorities?

There are resources that are available exclusively to minorities on campus here at the U of I and also at ISU. Asian, black, gay, and latino students all have individual organizations that look to assist them in their university experience.

Athletes have access to benefits that the rest of the student body doesn't because the university has more invested in them and needs to ensure they meet academic eligibility and can manage their athletic schedule in addition to their classes. If we extend to all minorities the same priveleges that athletes have, what does that say to the non-minority students? Also, what does it say about the way the school perceives the abilities of minorities?
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MRG
 
 

Joined: 07 Feb 2007
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:29 am    Post subject: SIDEBAR-BOARD OF REGENTS
More on the Board of Regents. The Governor wants to give "The Board" approximatly $40 million dollars.
The Board of Regents already stated that they could not predict a drop in tuition with the additions of these funds. This Boards only meets eight times a years but causes enough damage as if they worked twenty four - seven. Who checks and balances this Board?

With the recent tuition hike and you want to give money for pay raises and operational cost? Why were there no administrative staffs cuts made in the departments that can NOT balance their budget? Instead, let the students pick up the slack for others incompetencies. We pay this department heads a lot of darn good money, now we just need to make them EARN IT! Moreover, not to teach the students that they can do as they please and make someone else pay for it. Are we growing politicians or future doctors, teachers, engineers and other professionals?

We can rebuild football stadiums, build new basketball stadium and pay the coaches outlandish sums of money, money we do not have and again, we will just let the students and families flip the bill. How much are we paying for yet another job search for the U of I position?

This is not the way to teach to our future leaders. Something has to be accomplished to keep our college tuition in check and this Board is NOT doing it so please Governor do not give the Board this money, let us put this money to a better use. Like starting a program to help farmers grow pineapples here in Iowa, this has to be better than what the Board of Regents would do.
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bob_goatse
 
 

Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 61

 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:02 am    Post subject:
Wouldn't it make sense to have a statistical comparisons between minority student and white students, athletes vs nonathletes, minority athletes vs white athletes, and comparisons based on income in order to come to the best conclusion? Until that happens all we are left with is uncertainty as to where the problem is and how to fix it.
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El Duce
 
 

Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 41

 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:09 am    Post subject:
Hello, last time I checked, Iowa was about 98% white - undergraduate enrollment and graduation at state land-grant schools has always and should be a reflection of the population of that state. Because Iowa is trying to educate Iowans, see?

If the regents want to see some diversity, look at graduate programs at these schools. That's where the diversity is.

Additionally, the reason state schools put so much effort into recruiting and helping men's football and basketball athletes is because they participate in INCOME GENERATING SPORTS. Which in turn, help to fund many other programs, some of which are designed to encourage minority undergraduate education.

When's the last time a paying audience of 70,000 showed up for a debate competition, art exhibit or honor's awards program?

Put your old saw away. It's rusty and dull.
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oldboy
 
 

Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:28 am    Post subject: grad rates according to old boy
thank you "el duce"! these people seem to overlook the revenue generating capabilities of college athletics. you would think guy running a college would have a little better insight into that subject. and by the way, didn't we just go through a huge debate over lowering entrance standards to encourage minority attendance at state schools?
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Bloghead
 
 

Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 31

 
PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:02 am    Post subject:
MRG:

To correct your inaccuracy, the Board of Regents are citizen VOLUNTEERS.

What are you talking about when you say “We pay this department heads a lot of darn good money, now we just need to make them earn it!” ???

By the way, you could use a grammar class and a government class to know the difference between capital and operating funds and how they can’t be commingled. And then you could actually gather information before you express your opinion. It has been reported that we aren’t paying for another job search.
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twethe01
 
 

Joined: 07 Feb 2007
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 2:23 pm    Post subject: To: why the link?
I agree with you completely that the problem is class, not race and I agree with most of your points. However...

"What really needs to happen is that poor students who had a poor high school preperation should be encouraged to enroll in two-year colleges such as Hawkeye Community College (and I believe DMACC) that have programs that support direct, seamless transfers to the state schools."

Some people are not cut out for community college. You can't say that poor people with poor college prep should go to community colleges. They should be able to go where they want to go. The problem lies in the college prep. Poor high schools need to be improved, therefore, aiding poor students in their hopes of someday getting out of their low socioeconomic status. I have nothing against community colleges - they're great, I went to one for two years because I had a hard time transitioning to college life. However, *sometimes* the quality of education is not as high as a university or college, so I don't think that poor students who have never had a real chance in the first place should have to "settle" if what they want to do (or at least try to do) is go to a university.
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sebastian
 
 

Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 4:42 pm    Post subject: re: twethe01
I certainly agree that students from poor (both in terms of quality and wealth) high schools SHOULDN'T HAVE to to to community colleges, and I certainly agree that we need to focus on the quality of their education. I don't think Valley should afford a full-time groundskeeper or whatever latest ridiculous spending while Waterloo East has broken asbestos tile in the weight room.

But that's really ambitious. I do my part to help that by staying active with my representatives and being active through lobbying and volunteer groups. But in the mean time, while that is a problem that we address, I think an emphasis on quality community college education could help poor folks out quite a bit. Sure, not everyone is cut out for the community college life, but it's not a problem we can really absolutely fix, just something we can make better. And I think more would be successful in the long run if they started at a community college first instead of made the jump right away.

One benefit of that is that if they are unable to adjust to life at a four-year institution away from home, at least they will have a two year degree, and at least they will have had one good experience with post-HS education and may try it again down the road.