Thirty-seven percent of students at historically black colleges and universities complete a bachelor’s degree in six years, four percentage points lower than the national graduation rate for black students, according to an analysis published today by the Associated Press. Just 29 percent of men at HBCU’s earn a bachelor’s degree within six years, the AP found.

Those numbers, in part, reflect the fact that black colleges serve a disproportionate share of financially needy students. And the graduation rates do not account for students who transfer or who complete their degrees in more than six years.

Nonetheless, some officials at those colleges told the Associated Press that the institutions must do more to help students succeed. “I think HBCU’s have gotten lazy, …” said Walter M. Kimbrough, president of Philander Smith College, in Little Rock, Ark. He continued: “We still say ‘nurturing, caring, the president knows you.’ That’s a lie on a lot of campuses. That’s a flat-out lie.” —Eric Hoover