Research Paper on:
Retention Strategies for African American Students

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
have a college education. Such strategies to increase enrollment are all well and good, but getting into a college and staying there are two separate matters. It profits students little  if they enroll in college, take a few courses, have trouble adapting to the lifestyle and then drop out. For this reason, an emphasis is also needed on retaining college  students until graduation, not just soliciting their enrollment. This is a particularly pressing program for certain social and ethnic groups from whom the rate of dropouts from college are particularly  high. This research proposal seeks to establish a methodology for improving the retention of African American college students. Research Question This paragraph helps the student frame the issue  that informs the research question. Studies have indicated that among college dropouts, there is an inordinate number of African Americans (York, 2004). This tendency has been traced back to a  number of causative factors that, if addressed, might help to improve the rate of retention for these students. One of the primary factors is a measurable disparity between the expectations  that African American students have for college versus the reality of the situations they experience there (York, 2004). A survey of 800 four-year public, four-year private, and community colleges conducted  by Noel-Levitz revealed that "African American student satisfaction levels are significantly lower than those of their Caucasian counterparts" (York, 2004). Financial challenges were also cited as playing a major role.  In recent years, financially needy students have faced a number of obstacle to paying for college including dramatic reductions in education budgets at the state level, higher fees, and an  emphasis on merit-based rather than need-based financial aid (York, 2004). The result is that lower-income students (such as African Americans when considered statistically as a group) are made to depend