According to retention rate data from the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at Mississippi State University, MSU has the highest percentage and retention rate of African-American students attending public universities in Mississippi.
Philip Bonfanti, executive director of enrollment at MSU, said African-American students represented almost 23 percent of the MSU student body in fall 2011. Based on current data available, Bonfanti said this is the highest percentage among all SEC schools.
Bonfanti said the spirit of MSU as “the people’s university” is a large reason the university has such a diverse student population.
“I believe that even as we have grown in enrollment and academic quality over our 130-year history, Mississippi State University has stayed true to its roots as the People’s University,” he said.  “Our welcoming family atmosphere is attractive to people from all races, and, because of that, we actually do not have to do anything special to attract a diverse student population other than continue to be ourselves.”
Jerry Gilbert, provost and executive vice president, said MSU is welcoming as a whole, and people feel that acceptance when they visit campus.
“We come across as a very welcoming place, and I think that’s just a tradition of the land grant and MSU,” he said. “We’re not perfect, but I think we’re better than a lot of other places. I think people get a sense of the general welcoming feeling when they step on campus.”
Gilbert said even though MSU has the highest African-American retention rate out of public universities in Mississippi, the retention rate of the African-American population at MSU is one of the lowest among the various student demographic groups.
According to the data, the retention rate for African American students is 81 percent, which is only 2 percent lower than the overall retention rate of MSU. Bonfanti said the administration believes MSU can do better in both cases and is currently working on programs to increase the retention rate for all students.
Gilbert said some programs in the works include intervention at the academic probation level and student focus groups.
“We’ve talked about doing focus groups to get students together and brainstorm with them to see if there’s anything in the picture we’re not aware of,” he said. “(Retention rates are) a national problem. Many people have tried to figure out a solution, but no one has come up with a silver bullet saying this is what we need to do.”
Bonfanti said administration is working to identify outside factors that cause students, as a whole and by particular demographics, not to graduate.
“One factor is obviously poor academic preparedness, but, more often than not, there are also non-academic factors related to the transition of college life,” Bonfanti said. “With that in mind, the university has and is developing both academic support programs, as well as mentoring and advising programs to help support all students through this transition.”