The Future of HBCUs in America
A lot has changed since HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) started to appear in the United States. These schools gave African American students chances that they would never have had in the predominately White college setting. Notable HBCU alumni like Oprah Winfrey, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr. prove that the experience can be invaluable for individuals looking to make a difference. The question now is: how viable are HBCUs in modern America? With federal funding steadily decreasing for higher education, it’s becoming more difficult for HBCUs to bounce back from the recession. Still, there are several factors that indicate these schools are integral to the community fabric.
One of the most positive effects that HBCUs have on American minorities is the ability to retain and nurture disadvantaged students. The achievement gap in the U.S. is gradually shrinking, but still has a noticeable effect on graduation rates throughout higher education. Between 2003 and 2013, the Education Trust found that Black graduation rates grew to 46.8% while White graduation rates grew all the way to 64.7%. HBCUs have a significant ability to retain minority students after freshman year compared to minority students who attend PWIs (predominately White institutions).
HBCUs provide accepting and inclusive environments that are critical for retaining disadvantaged students who would face countless other obstacles in the typical college setting. These schools are cultural icons for everyone in the African American community who have contributed to countless fields like civil rights, scientific research, and literature. This structure that HBCUs provide offers a more engaging outlook on the Black college experience for young students – a U.S. News ranking list found that Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Howard University, the top 3 HBCUs for freshmen retention, had return rates of over 82%.
HBCUs also foster some of the strongest STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) minds in the country. In fact, 65% of all Black physicians and 50% of all Black engineers graduate from HBCUs. A 2013 Clay Phillips study found that among schools that graduate the most African American students earning degrees in the physical sciences, 11 HBCUs were among the top 15 institutions. Xavier University of Louisiana is a consistent leader in placing Black students into medical schools and ranks among the top 3 colleges in the nation for graduating African Americans with Doctor of Pharmacy degrees. Schools like Tuskegee University and Alabama A&M University are known not only among HBCUs, but nationwide for their engineering prowess.
It’s undeniable that HBCUs contribute greatly to the welfare of higher education. Without these schools, many brilliant minds would be lost within the current system (granted they had the opportunity to get there in the first place). They are not only cultural safe havens for disadvantaged students, they are notable assets to the growth of our collective mind. While the future of HBCUs may seem uncertain in the current economic state, it’s clear that they are still a valuable asset to the national community and should be upheld as such.