Why is there black colleges

Most 87 of the institutions are four-year colleges or universities, and 20 are two-year institutions. In the past, more than 80 percent of all black college graduates have been trained at these HBCUs.

Today, HBCUs enroll 20 percent of black undergraduates. However, HBCUs award 40 percent of baccalaureate degrees earned by black college students. On April 28, , President George Bush issued Executive Order to strengthen the capacity of HBCUs to provide quality education and to increase their participation in federally sponsored programs.

It mandates the taking of positive measures, by federal agencies, to increase the participation of HBCUs, their faculty and students, in federally sponsored programs. It also encourages the private sector to assist HBCUs. This office also coordinates the activities of 27 federal departments and agencies in implementing Executive Order These agencies were selected for participation in the program because they account for 98 percent of federal funds directed to our colleges and universities.

Selecting a college in which to enroll is a very personal choice. However, HBCUs offer a valuable option for minority and nonminority students alike. Some of the factors that make HBCUs attractive include:. Many HBCUs have lower tuition and fees compared to traditionally white institutions. A number also offer a broad spectrum of financial assistance to qualified students and have extensive experience in identifying sources of financial support for deserving students.

Financial assistance may come in the form of scholarships, loans, and grants to cover the cost of tuition, fees, room and board, books, supplies, personal expenses, and transportation.

HBCUs often serve students from a wide range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Students interested in the humanities, or in such areas as sociology, psychology, economics, government, urban planning, etc.

Nonresident aliens constitute a large portion of the student enrollment at many HBCUs. A number of foreign students and professors at HBCUs participate in student or faculty exchange programs. In general, HBCUs aim to be sensitive to the needs of foreign students and provide students an opportunity to associate with different nationalities and to learn about cultural diversities.

Multicultural exposures are expected to become increasingly valuable as the demographics of the American work force change and America competes more aggressively in the world economy. Today many HBCUs have a racially diverse students enrollment at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Also, the majority of HBCUs continue to have a racially diverse faculty and administration. HBCUs are presently more racially desegregated, with respect to their enrollment and staff, than traditionally white institutions. HBCUs may offer a more supportive educational setting for students encountering some difficulty in realizing their full academic potential. HBCUs generally offer a broad range of effective remedial programs for students.

Many HBCUs have established developmental centers, reading laboratories, and expanded tutorial and counseling services to accommodate the special needs of educationally disadvantaged students.

In addition, a strong commitment by many HBCUs to serve all students has resulted in high rates of graduation. Traditionally, the faculties at many HBCUs place as much, or more, emphasis on teaching and student service oriented activities as on research.

This permits more time for personal and high quality student-teacher interactions. In addition, many teachers at HBCUs have experience in working with minority students and students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Research findings indicate that these factors are important for the academic success of many minority students. As a result of the desegregation plans approved by OCR under Title VI, many state systems of higher education have placed new high demand programs and curricula-such as engineering, pharmacy, and computer science-at HBCUs.

Students considering options in postsecondary education are faced with one of the most difficult and important choices of their lives. Their decisions should lead to informed selections reflecting the broadest possible range of educational opportunities. The Office for Civil Rights is committed to equality of opportunity in education. OCR conducts complaint investigations and compliance reviews to ensure Title VI requirements are being followed.

Also, OCR supports the efforts to comply with Title VI by offering a program of technical assistance to institutions receiving federal funds as well as to beneficiaries of those funds.

If you wish additional information about the OCR compliance program, you may write or phone the OCR regional office which serves your state or territory. The addresses and telephone numbers of the regional civil rights offices are listed below.

This pamphlet was developed in coordination with the Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education. Search for:. Toggle navigation U. Student Loans Grants Laws Data. Martin, Brown and Garner were killed in their own neighborhoods.

Even religious settings seem to offer little protection. Through the years, predominantly black spaces such as historically black colleges and universities HBCUs have sheltered black people. More than that, they provide an important space for the fight for civil rights, equality, and black liberation.

Despite this connection, many wonder what the role is of historically black colleges and universities HBCUs today. I have been researching HBCUs to understand how education and its pursuit by black Americans represent a constant affront to white supremacy. Historically, educating the formerly enslaved and their descendants represented a truly radical act. And today, as black Americans choosing to attend these schools know and confirmed by researchers , these campuses are psychologically and socially more liberating than the predominantly white ones.

This is but one reason we still need HBCUs. Their historic role in the pursuit of freedom is yet another. HBCUs have always been the vehicles for liberty and equality in the journey toward black liberation within America. Black Americans have long understood the relationship between education and democracy. However, at the time, not only did most people believe the formerly enslaved had no desire for education, they also thought black Americans did not possess the mental capacity to pursue it.

The point is, HBCUs played a crucial role in transforming how America was to understand and envision what it meant to be black following the Civil War. And throughout the years, these schools have served as incubators for future generations of freedom fighters. While Black enrollment at HBCUs increased by 15 percent between and , the total number of Black students enrolled in all degree-granting postsecondary institutions more than doubled during this period.

As a result, among Black students, the percentage enrolled at HBCUs fell from 18 percent in to 9 percent in , then showed no measurable change between and forthcoming and forthcoming. Female enrollment at HBCUs has been higher than male enrollment in every year since The percentage of female enrollment at HBCUs increased from 53 percent in to 63 percent in Also in , some 87 percent of HBCU students attended 4-year institutions, while the remaining 13 percent attended 2-year institutions.

About 76 percent of HBCU students attended public institutions, while the remaining 24 percent attended private nonprofit institutions forthcoming. At all levels, the majority of degrees conferred to Black students were conferred to Black female students forthcoming.