The state of historically Black colleges and universities appears to be in tragic disarray. Graduation rates are on the decline, and funds within the institution are dismal.
In an article for Newsweek titled “Black Colleges Matter,” author Alexander Nazaryan explores the plight of the historic institutions—and why it’s so important that we reverse the trend. Here are six things you need to know about what is happening to our HBCUs.
Graduation rates at HBCUs are on the decline.
Last year, the average graduation rate at a four-year HBCU hovered around 59 percent. Though higher than that national average for Black students at non-HBCUs, no HBCU saw graduation rates above 70 percent (Spelman was the highest at 69 percent, followed by Howard with 65 percent. Comparatively, Harvard, Amherst College, Swarthmore, Yale and Princeton all saw graduation rates topping 90 percent). More so, half of the nation’s HBCUs had rates below 34 percent.
Fewer students are choosing to attend HBCUs.
In the days of Jim Crow, Black students typically only had one choice when seeking higher education: Apply to an HBCU. Even in the decades following the Civil Rights Movement, 80 percent of African-Americans were opting to attend one. However, those numbers have fallen drastically since the 80s (HBCUs saw a spike after A Different World worked a fictional HCBU into its storyline). Nowadays, only 9 percent of Black students are choosing to attend an HBCU. read more
