The majority of African-Americans who enroll into Wayne State University are not graduating with degrees. Finances and personal issues play a part for some, but others can’t seem to handle the academic load. mLive interviewed Wayne State University student LaQuanda Pratt, who discusses the challenges black Wayne State students face.

Since LaQuanda Pratt enrolled at Wayne State University three years ago, many of the African-American students she shared classes with are gone. Some left the college because of family difficulties, Pratt recalled. Some ran out of money. Others couldn’t cut it academically.

“A lot of students aren’t prepared,” said the 20-year-old psychology major from Detroit. “They think they did what they needed to be ready for college. Then they get here and find out they didn’t.”

Wayne State is located in America’s largest black-majority city, yet is one of the nation’s worst at getting degrees into the hands of African Americans. Only one in 10 black students who enroll at Wayne State earn a degree within six years — a startling rate that is less than one-fourth the national average for African Americans and one-fourth Wayne’s own graduation rate for white students.

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