The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) announced Thursday that it continues to show significant achievement in graduation rates. UAPB increased its four-year graduation rate and maintained its highest five-year and six-year graduation rates. Overall, the four-year rate improved 133% from 2016 to 2020; the five-year rate increased 58.2% from 2017 to 2021, and the preliminary six-year graduation rate increased 38.9%.
Chancellor Laurence B. Alexander, calling it a significant victory for the entire UAPB community, credited the strategic approach to retaining students and assisting seniors with financial resources so they clear any outstanding debts before completing their degree programs.
“Our students have done the hard work to finish, and I am happy to celebrate this success with our graduates first and foremost,” Alexander said. “I am also proud of the work our faculty and staff across the university are doing to ensure more of our students get their degrees. Our Student Success Center has been dogged in its delivery of tools to help students successfully matriculate. Programs such as the on-demand Grad Ready, which provides workshops on a wide range of topics such as budgeting, study skills, how to do well in an online course, and understanding financial aid, have been key to our steady increase. And through our Last Mile Scholarship our extended UAPB community has helped lift the financial burden from students who are nearing completion but have outstanding debts that they’re unable to pay.”
