Is your college a good place for minority students to study? Most students say yes

Most universities are good places for black, Asian and Hispanic students to study, respondents in a Gallup poll released Tuesday said. But for LGBT students? That answer's not so clear.

The 2016 Gallup-Purdue Index, which surveyed college graduates from 1990 to 2016, found that 68% of respondents believed their university was a good place for racial minorities to study. For LGBT students, only 42% of respondents said the same, while 49% said they didn’t know.

The results highlight the progress universities have made in welcoming racial minorities and LGBT students, Gallup’s executive director of education and workforce development, Brandon Busteed, said, but still leave some questions to be answered.

“It’s highly unusual to get such a high number of 'don’t know' responses,” Busteed said. “It’s an interesting finding, and hard to read into what that means, but is something we all need to dive deeper into. Why are people so ambivalent on whether their university is a good place or not?”

These perceptions are important because graduates who feel their university was a good place to study are more likely to recommend their alma mater, think their degree was worth the cost and to donate to their university, Busteed said.

Whether or not students had interactions with diverse people on their campus also played a big role in what they thought of the climate. Of recent graduates surveyed, 88% of those with exposure to diversity in college believe their alma mater was a good place for minorities to study.

Past studies have shown that gaps in graduation rates at public universities between white students and minority students persist. While six-year graduation rates overall have risen in recent years, studies have shown minority students still graduate at lower rates than their white peers.

When Gallup broke down poll results by race, students were more likely to say their university was a good place to study if they were a part of a minority.

While only 65% of white students said their university was a good place for racial minorities to study, 78% of black, 82% of Hispanic and 79% of Asian students said the same.

Related: Half of college alumni say school not worth it, report finds

The poll results also highlight how universities can continue to create better environments for minorities and LGBT students.

One of the most important factors in creating inclusive campuses is making sure people feel their opinions count, Busteed said.

“There’s definitely a group of students who don’t feel their opinions are being asked, don’t feel their opinions are being heard and they don’t feel their concerns are being raised,” Busteed said. “This is really a call to understand the views and feelings of racial and ethnic minorities and campus, and LGBT students on campus, and how we can do a better job for them.”

And doing a better job helping minority students means starting earlier than college, MIT Undergraduate Association Assistant Officer on Diversity Alberto Hernandez said. MIT is widely recognized as one of the most diverse college campuses in the U.S.

"I've seen the processes that go behind expanding the pipeline when it comes to diverse applicants, and it doesn't start at the round table when they decide who gets admitted," Hernandez said. "It starts with going out to middle schools, encouraging students to do STEM, engaging prospective students and doing high school outreach programs."

For Hernandez, participating in a high school outreach program during his senior year led to him to go to MIT.

"For me personally, that was a big component of me ending up here," he said. "I didn't think I would apply and get in here before that."

This year's edition of the annual index also shows that only 1 in 6 college graduates believe their college's career services center was helpful.

Olivia Dimmer is a Michigan State University student and a USA TODAY College correspondent.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.