Prairie State Wire

More than 10,000 of the 16,000 black students enrolled in one of Illinois’ 11, state-subsidized four-year universities will flunk out of school.

That’s according to an analysis of U.S. Department of Education (DOE) data by Prairie State Wire.

Over the six-year period from 2011-17, only 37.5 percent of black students enrolled in Illinois’ four-year schools managed to successfully complete four years of coursework, the DOE reports.

More than 6 in 10-- 62.5 percent-- flunked out. That equates to 10,029 students, at today’s enrollment levels.

As of August 2017, 16,181 black students were enrolled in an Illinois state-subsidized university.

Three schools -- the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (78 percent graduation rate), the University of Illinois at Springfield (59 percent) and Illinois State University (52 percent) -- graduated more black students than they failed.

Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) in Chicago (8 percent graduation rate) and Chicago State University (11 percent) failed 9 of 10 black students who enrolled.

State taxpayers gave $34 million to NEIU and $35 million to Chicago State last year, to subsidize operating expenses. They report 7,113 and 2,029 students enrolled, respectively.

Northern Illinois University in DeKalb (2,153 enrolled), University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2,037) and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (1,758) have the largest black student populations of the 11 schools.

Chicago State University (75 percent black), Western Illinois University in Macomb (22 percent) and Eastern Illinois University in Charleston (18 percent) have the highest percentage of black students.

An Illinois Department of Higher Education study released last month said black student enrollment at Illinois public universities fell 26 percent between 2013 and 2017. The analysis also includes community colleges, which typically enroll more than twice as many black students as do the state’s four-year schools.

According to the Illinois State Board of Education, 75 percent of black students enrolled in a public K-12 school graduated in 2018, versus a state average of 85 percent for all students.

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Black Student Failure Rate at Illinois' 4-Year Universities

University	# Black Students Enrolled	# Black Students Failing Out	Black Student Failure Rate
Northern Illinois University	2,153	1,529	71%
Chicago State University	1,522	1,354	89%
Southern Illlnois University- Carbondale	1,758	1,318	75%
Southern Illlnois University- Edwardsville	1,596	1,165	73%
Western Illinois University	1,672	1,070	64%
University of Illinois at Chicago	1,556	871	56%
Illinois State University	1,650	792	48%
Northeastern Illinois University	854	785	92%
Eastern Illinois University	1,002	541	54%
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	2,037	448	22%
University of Illinois at Springfield	381	156	41%
TOTAL	16,181	10,029	62%

Source: U.S. Department of Education