I have watched my 2 kids choose attending a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) as 4th generation HBCU students (from their Mom’s side of the family) over other great financial and academic school options and I wanted to share a few articles (An article on 4 students who chose HBCUs over Ivy League acceptances, Why America needs HBCUs, and 20 facts about HBCUs). There are pros and cons to attending any school, so all students should always weight their own finances, goals, and “fit” when choosing a school.
But consider the following:
HBCUs make up 3% of of four-year nonprofit colleges
HBCUs account for 10% of African American students at four-year nonprofit colleges
HBCUs account for ~20% of African American graduates at four-year nonprofit colleges
HBCUs account for 27% of the nation’s African American students who earn STEM degrees
HBCUs account for 40% of the nation’s African American engineers
HBCUs account for over 50% of the nation’s African American public school teachers
HBCUs account for 50% of the nation’s African American lawyers
HBCUs account for 50% of the nation’s African American doctors
HBCUs account for 70% of the nation’s African American dentists
HBCUs account for 80% of the nation’s African American black judges
Spelman and Bennett Colleges produce over half of the nation’s African American women who go on to earn doctorates in all science fields.
Nine of the top ten colleges that graduate the most African American students who go on to earn PhDs are HBCUs.
Forbes Magazine recently published an article on this topic. It doesn’t go deep into the subject, and is more of a lite-intro to the subject. Welcome nonetheless.
Noliwe Rooks, a professor at Brown and author of “Cutting School”, said this in response to the article and topic in general: “I sometimes think about how Black kids with an option between the two, sometimes choose PWIs for the prestige and funding, and then spend years protesting for more Black faculty & mental health workers and less overt aggression from their white professors.”
I also liked this from the article:
It’s nice to finally see big donations from non-AA sources. I know Ms Scott’s donation wasn’t the first, but its size created a lot of fanfare, will help MSU tremendously, and hopefully will lead to more such donations.
I have listened to Gladwell’s premise and have always felt the same way. HBCUs have always been disregarded due to their overall graduation rates, but it has never been taken into account that approximately 75% of students at HBCUs are Pell Grant eligible. When any school has that number of low income students, the graduation rate will not be the same as a school with a much lower percentage of Pell Grant eligible students, but that is often ignored. I understand that final results matter, but I saw almost 30% of my Freshman class at Morehouse gone after 1 year and it was almost always because of financial distress.
Dillard University was on my son’s list of schools. They offered their largest scholarship to my son, and the school’s President reached out directly to my son several times. Despite my son choosing another HBCU, the amount of care and real interest that Dr. Kimbrough showed in my son is something that makes HBCUs special and makes him a giant in my book.