Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are the academic backbone of the Black community. HBCUs have produced more than half of all practicing doctors in this country, according to Forbes. And with notable HBCU alumni like Oprah Winfrey, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Spike Lee, Black students should be flocking to any of our 107 HBCUs, but here’s the issue: they’re not.
The overall number of HBCU applicants has declined over the years, and what’s most concerning is the amount of Black men on HBCU campuses is rapidly decreasing. Today, Black men account for only 26 percent of the total number of students at all HBCUs, according to a study by the American Institute for Boys and Men. This marks the lowest Black male enrollment since 1976, when Black men made up only 38 percent.
On the flip side, Black women continue to dominate HBCU enrollment, but this begs the question: what about our Black men who are historically more likely to be left behind academically?
According to Calvin Hadley, an assistant provost for academic partnerships and student engagement at Howard University and 2008 Howard grad, low Black male enrollment is not just an HBCU issue.
Hadley told Juana Summers from NPR that while 25 percent of Howard’s student population is male, “recent statistics said around 19% Black male” attend the university. Because of this, he notes their growing absence is “felt on campus...in our social clubs.... [and] on the yard. And I think many of our male students have commented that in some of their classes, they’re the only male in their class.”
Black males graduate at a lower rate than Black females, according to Ed Trust. And that’s across the board. Hadley made clear that “this is not a Howard problem. This is not an HBCU problem. This is not a PWI problem,” he said. “This is an American education problem.”
Devonte Usher, a student at Howard University, said in his own experience, being in classes surrounded by women left him feeling “like I was the odd one out.” He continued saying “I felt like I was going to be called out more... because the demographic was not on my side in terms of sex.”
Despite the challenges, Usher doesn’t regret choosing Howard in the slightest. He says Howard was “the best decision I’ve made in my life.” He recognizes, like most HBCU students, that attending a Black college brings you more than just an education. “You get to learn about the history of our people that most high school curriculums don’t tend to teach unfortunately,” Usher said.
In comparison to Predominately White Institutions (PWIs), HBCUs are historically underfunded. Because of the widespread lack of resources, often times HBCUs simply don’t get the love they truly deserve. But even with these challenges, Black medical school graduates come out of HBCUs at a larger rate than PWIs, even though they only make up a small portion of the nation’s medical schools.
HBCU graduates are some of the most academically and professionally prepared graduates in the country, and it’s no shocker they’re the most proud of their alma maters too.
Malik Robinson attended a predominately white high school, so when it was time to pick a college, the decision was easy for him. He now attends Alabama A&M University, an HBCU. “It’s way easier to go into a new journey like college surrounded by people you are comfortable with,” he said.
Robinson continued: “the knowledge of self that you get from an HBCU in terms of being Black is incomparable to other institutions.” He says his HBCU taught him more about himself than he would learn at an PWI. If he chose a PWI instead of his HBCU, Robinson said “I would feel like I missed out on the HBCU experience and everything that comes with it.”