Editorial: Tackling low college graduation rates for black and Latino students

It’s depressing how many students start four-year colleges but never finish. Overall, the nationwide graduation rate is about 60%, meaning that six of 10 students who enter college finish within six years. That’s a figure that no one would find acceptable at a public high school. And the figures are substantially worse for black and Latino students, as the achievement gaps that plague education in public schools persist in college. Less than 40% of black students graduate a four-year college within six years, and half of Latino students, according to a 2017 report by the U.S. Department of Education. At some schools, the graduation rates for those groups are in the single digits.